SPCA fights accused horse hoarder

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - The SPCA called it one the biggest rescues they've made in decades. Now, they're fighting an accused hoarder who wants her animals back.

The biggest issue right now is the price tag, more than $200,000 and counting, that the SPCA has spent on these horses.

These are some of the 73 horses that the SPCA has been feeding grooming and paying the medical bills for after they were seized March 18th from a farm on Emery Road in the Town of Aurora.

At the time, many of them were caked in their own manure. In some of their stalls the manure was two-feet deep according to the SPCA. But that's an exaggeration, according to the horse's owner Beth Hoskins.

In fact earlier this week, State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Glownia suggested perhaps a compromise could be reached for Hoskins to care for some of them, but despite the huge cost, the SPCA doesn't want her to get any back.

"We have seen nothing from the defense that would lead us to believe that these horses will be better cared for than when we found them," said SPCA of Erie County President Larry Robb.

"We need the judge to order the defendant to pay for the care of these horses even while they're under our care, so it shouldn't be the general public's responsibility to pay for these horses, it should be the defendant's," Robb said.

This case goes back to State Supreme Court on July 12th.

We have left messages with Beth Hoskins and her attorney, and we hope to hear more of their side of the story on News 4 at 5.

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