Victor Abreu

Neglect of horses

Chicago, IL

Dec. 31, 2004

Abreu, age 42, a Chicago firefighter since 1994, won’t fight the seizure of 6 starving horse he owns on January 12, 2005.  One of the horses, a foal, was euthanized because of a broken leg.  Abreu wanted to be a horse breeder.

Abreu was arrested on outstanding warrant for animal cruelty and check-kiting on January 25, 2005 at his home in the 1600 block of North Humboldt Blvd for failure to appear in court to answer the charges of inhumane treatment of a horse in Putnam County in October, 2004.  He was released 24 hours later after posting a $26,000 bail.

The Department of Agriculture warned Abreu to make sure his horses receive proper care. Six of the horses--described by the state as malnourished--were taken from a farm in Peoria County to the Hooved Animal Rescue and Protection Society in Barrington Hills.  The citation lists Abreu address as the 2600 block of Haddon Avenue in Chicago

The 2 Barrington Hills horse rescue group will now seek new homes for the horses.

Abreu stated he would sell the remaining 10 horses to a DeKalb slaughterhouse to cut his losses

David Menold has placed a lien on the 10 remaining horses and will block any effort to take the horses to slaughter until $10,000 Abreu owes for shelter, food and veterinary care is paid.
 
Since Abreu’s comments about the plan to send the horses to slaughter were published, people from across the state and country have pledged money and material to save the 10 horses, according to the director of a DeKalb County horse-rescue group.

"They will not be slaughtered," said Barb Boubelik, director of the Lazy Maple Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Leland. "That is the main goal."

Boubelik said people from Illinois and as far away as Pennsylvania and Virginia have pledged $4,000, plus feed and transportation, to remove the 10 horses from the Dunlap farm of David Menold, where Abreu has kept the horses since summer.

Boubelik spoke to Menold offering $400 apiece for the horses. The slaughterhouse had offered to pay  Abreu about $280 per horse.

A Hooved Animal Rescue and Protection Society official said the organization also is seeking qualified buyers for the six horses it has in custody

Ronda Ewing, director of development for the group, said the six malnourished horses are doing better every day.   "They're getting stronger and gaining weight," she said.

The Peoria County farmer said the owner of a feed store would visit his farm to see how to get the animals in good shape.

"When people come to offer to buy them, there'll be something there," Menold said. "They won't just be a bag of bones."

Reference:

The Chicago Tribune