Evelyn, one of the horses seized from abuse in Wicomico County, MD in March, 2018, was adopted in January, 2020 after nearly two years at Days End Farm Horse Rescue.
In March 2018 a news helicopter flew over a horse farm in rural Wicomico County, MD. The WBOC-TV helicopter had been dispatched after a tip about abuse and neglect of horses on the farm.
The footage captured by that news helicopter was searing and horrific. Dead horses with buzzards feeding on them, skeletal remains of horses, emaciated horses standing in mud and manure.
The broadcast of that footage kicked off a massive rescue effort. About 100 horses, many pregnant mares, several stallions and some foals were moved to facilities where they could be treated, fed and cared for properly.
After the breaking news faded, after Barbara Pilchard the farm’s owner was charged with animal cruelty and neglect, after the trial and the guilty verdict, after Pilchard’s sentence was suspended, formidable questions linger.
Rescue groups and people concerned about animal welfare wonder how this tragedy happened. Even more urgently they wonder if it could happen again.
A History of Complaints
From 2010 to 2018, Wicomico County sheriff deputies had received more than 80 complaints about alleged neglect and abuse of horses on the farm. Several times Pilchard’s horses escaped from their pasture and wandered along the roads, or into neighbors’ yards. Citations were issued, charges were filed and the complaints kept coming. But according to Jamie Dykes, of the State’s Attorney office in Wicomico County, “existing laws, statutes and ordinances…failed to address these chronic concerns that were seen on the Pilchard farm. Law enforcement, at that time, made attempts to address those systemic issues.” Despite the persistent problems, the sheriff’s deputies were not permitted to cross the fence into the pasture where they would have seen the appalling conditions in which the horses were struggling to survive.
What has changed in the interim? Are there new laws protecting animals from this kind of abuse? The horses from Pilchard’s farm were sent to rescues and animal protection agencies in three states, where their care and protection became the responsibilities of those non-profit groups.
Officers Distraught
Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis is haunted by what he saw, and he was determined to never let it happen again. “We were so distraught about what happened,” he said.
Within weeks after the story broke, Lewis went to the county, arguing that the laws needed to be changed. All seven members of the county council agreed, and quickly signed a new ordinance into law. “We can cite them (animal abusers) now and go onto the property and inspect conditions. And we now have a robust animal control department.” He says that the Wicomico County Humane Society works with law enforcement on animal control and abuse issues.
“There was fault all the way around,” he said. “I should have said enough is enough.”
Unfortunately, Wicomico County’s resolve is not shared statewide. While county council in Wicomico County recognized that they could actually do something positive in the face of the profound tragedy that took place at the Pilchard farm, there is no legislation that would address these issues on a statewide basis. Nothing pending. Nothing planned.
The Burden of Care
The horses from Pilchard’s farm arrived at the rescues needing veterinary care; they needed to be isolated; they were virtually feral, having had little or no handling or training. The cost of saving these horses and rehabilitating them—getting them ready to be adopted—added up quickly.
“It’s the burden of organizations,” Caroline Robertson Herman says. She’s the Development Director of Days End Farm Horse Rescue in Howard County, MD. “When animals are failed the burden of cost of care is the organization’s.” It’s a burden they willingly accept, she says, because it’s embedded in their mission, along with education, advocacy and accountability. In the media frenzy surrounding the Pilchard case, there was a lot of talk about amending the state law to require routine inspections of facilities such as Pilchard’s.
“There are requirements for barns and training facilities to be inspected in Maryland,” Herman says. Currently the state requires certain equine facilities to obtain a Maryland stable license. These include boarding, lesson, rental, rescue and sanctuary stables with one or more horses—stables that solicit business from the public. Breeding and training farms are exempt. The Maryland Department of Agriculture performs inspections of licensed stables, although not every stable is inspected every year.
The Maryland Horse Industry Board (MHIB), which is part of the state’s Department of Agriculture, has not supported amending the state’s licensing regulations. They’ve instead supported further investigation into the cost of expanding the licensing rules and of additional inspections, and the effort has been tabled for a future date, Herman says.
DeEtte Hillman, Equine Programs Director at Days End, says they took 12 horses initially and three of them had died prior to the beginning of the Pilchard trial. All nine of the surviving horses have been successfully adopted. The last filly, Evelyn, was adopted in January. “I understand the challenges in enacting that sort of bill,” she says, “with resources being stretched, but I do believe that to have standards being checked and well-being of the horses being inspected would be a benefit to the horses.”
Are Education and Greater Awareness the Answers?
As Wicomico Sheriff Lewis pointed out at the time of Pilchard’s arrest, one of the challenges facing law enforcement was knowledge about horses. “It is heartbreaking to say the least,” he to a newspaper reporter. “We love our animals, but one thing is abundantly clear: not everyone cares for animals in the same manner. What may seem perfectly acceptable to some is hardly acceptable to others.” In other words, it’s conceivable that lack of experience with horses was one factor that left them at a disadvantage in assessing what they were seeing at Pilchard’s farm.
Herman, of Days End says that, along with caring for horses, her organization also does outreach and education. “We host education series for the professional animal welfare people,” she explains. “We teach them equine cruelty investigation. It’s part of our mission and part of our annual programming.” She says her organization’s educational programs have expanded to include the general public, as well as “veterinary students, state’s attorneys, prosecutors, and law enforcement professionals. “We also are approved as continuing education for Virginia, she says. “If we don’t have the expertise (for a particular subject), we contract with teachers to do it. It supports them not only with equine but overall as animal welfare officers.”
Both Herman and Hillman struggled to find something good that may have come out of this horrific case of neglect and abuse. “I personally believe that any conversation being had about equine welfare is a win,” Herman said. “The more judges see these cases come before them, the more awareness will be raised.”
Hillman agrees. “Exposure is critical to make sure these cases get the voices of support they need and to keep the conversation going. Our donor base, supporters, online and social media following extend way past Maryland’s borders. Absolutely the public responds when they’ve been made aware of this. Many want to know how this happened, how horses got into this situation.”
The fact is that better training of law enforcement professionals, greater awareness of equine abuse for judges and prosecutors and more public involvement in efforts to support animal welfare agencies can have enormous positive impact on the lives of horses. But none of these is a substitute for robust laws aimed at protecting animals—at the very least, laws such as the one enacted in Wicomico County that gets law enforcement past the fence and into the farm when abuse is suspected. “This case shed some light on Maryland laws as to defining charges (in animal abuse cases),” Herman said, noting that in the end Pilchard’s sentence was suspended. “It wasn’t a good outcome for this case, but it led to good conversation about changes that need to be made.”
While news reports in this case led to increases in donor support and volunteers, both women understand the suffering endured by the horses cannot be reduced to a number on a balance sheet. And the legacy of their suffering should result in meaningful changes.
“This isn’t the first large case of abuse; this is not unique and that’s a sad point to make,” Herman explained. “We as humans are fickle, and it doesn’t take a lot of time before this story gets buried in our memories and then another case like this happens and we’re shocked again. The travesty would be if this case doesn’t make an impact or change.”
Sheriff Lewis is determined, and adamant that the future will be different for the horses in his jurisdiction. “These are things we look at differently now. I take this personally myself. Our command staff is on top of any report of animal abuse. We’ll never allow this to happen again on my watch.”