Distress as dead horse dumped in layby

The dumped horse

THE distressing sight of a dead horse greeted motorists heading over the Oldham border on Huddersfield Road yesterday morning.

One alarmed Chronicle reader from Scouthead called us and the authorities after she found the animal with its back legs tied with a rope to a post in a layby off the A604, at Haigh Gutter, just over the Kirklees border.

But after an inspection, any suspicious and cruel circumstances were ruled out by the RSPCA which says the dead animal was probably dumped by the owner to avoid the cost of disposal.

An RSPCA spokeswoman said: “There are not any suspicious circumstances. A report from the dog warden is that the animal was bloated and had died some time ago. It is the second incident of this type at the same location in the last year and in that case we did a post mortem examination on the horse and it was found to have died of natural causes. It appears this horse was brought in the night on the back of a trailer.

They tie its back legs to a fence or post then drive off so that the body slips off the back of the trailer.

“There are quite large cost implications for the disposing of the body and lots of people don’t want to pay so they dump the body. It is happening a lot.”

But our reader from Scouthead — herself a horse owner, who didn’t wish to be named — said it was still disgusting to leave a dead animal in such a public place.

“It’s unbelievable someone would do, that it’s despicable.”