The SPCA for Monterey County is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who abandoned a horse in Salinas earlier this month.

The horse was found on February 12, 2017, loose on Natividad Road near Old Natividad Road.

The horse, a paint stallion approximately five years old, had to be humanely euthanized on the recommendation of equine veterinarians to end his painful suffering from long-term neglect. He was suffering from an old fracture in his left hind leg, and likely had been for multiple years. If you have any information about this case or can identify the horse, please contact the SPCA at 831-373-2631. All calls are confidential.  To donate to help abused and neglected animals, please call the SPCA at 831-264-5421 or donate online at www.SPCAmc.org.

If caught, the owners could potentially be charged with the following offenses: California Penal Code Sections 597.1 (Permitting Animals to go Without Veterinary Care), Penal Code 597 (Animal Cruelty), Penal Code 597(b) (Deprivation of Food, Water, and Shelter), and Penal Code 597s (Abandonment).

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) for Monterey County is your nonprofit, independent, donor-supported humane society that has been serving the animals and people of Monterey County since 1905. The SPCA is not a chapter of any other agency and does not have a parent organization.  They shelter homeless, neglected and abused pets and livestock, and provide humane education and countless other services to the community. They are the local agency you call to investigate animal cruelty, rescue and rehabilitate injured wildlife, and aid domestic animals in distress. Online at www.SPCAmc.org.