Investigators: Two dead horses and multiple malnourished horses found in Farmington

FARMINGTON, N.Y. — A man is facing charges after Ontario County Humane Society investigators said they found two dead horses and multiple malnourished horses in his barn in Farmington.

Edward Perdue, 68, is charged with four counts of both animal cruelty and failure to provide food and water to animals. Investigators say they found an adult horse dead and decomposing in a stall with so much manure that its door was sealed shut. They also found another dead young horse partially covered by a tarp in the barn’s exercise area.

Investigators were called to the barn on Crowley Road on Sunday, May 26. According to the humane society, they found four horses that lacked food and water, in addition to stalls filled two feet or more of manure that horses had to stand on.

The humane society also said the barn floor was covered with manure with plastic wood chips mixed into it, which horses had been chewing on. The barn’s water and electricity was not on and the horses didn’t have the outdoors or veterinary care.

The four living horses are now being cared for at a local livestock location and the two dead horses were taken to Cornell University for necropsies. Perdue was given an appearance ticket for Farmington Town Court and more charges are pending.