The Kennebec County district attorney has joined an investigation into allegations of animal cruelty and neglect at a horse farm in Clinton. Last week we reported on complaints about Fair Play Farm, where several people say they have witnessed dozens of horses, many thin and in poor condition. They say state animal welfare investigators have dragged their feet on the case. Today, they and others took their concerns to an emergency meeting of the Animal Welfare Advisory Council.

For some of those who have visited Fair Play Farm in Clinton, the situation is dire. Several weeks have passed since Janet Tuttle paid her first visit and saw about 40 thin horses standing around in the cold.

"The second time out to the farm, I watched stallions fighting in a small area probably the size of this room with a big round bale of hay in front of them, and one of the little stallions was laying down flat and we questioned if he was okay," she says. "It was heartbreaking to say the least."

Tuttle and her husband operate a small horse rescue in Lisbon, where they care for several abused and neglected horses. She says she reported her observations at Fair Play Farm to the state's animal welfare program.

But what frustrates Tuttle and others who turned out for an emergency meeting of the Animal Welfare Advisory Council is that business at the farm appears to be taking place as usual and no animals have been seized. They say a couple of years ago several horses died on a horse farm in Waldo County where complaints had also been raised.

But no animals were seized and no charges were filed in the case. Donna Hughes of Searsmont says this makes her wonder what is wrong. "We have got some of the toughest laws on the books and they're not being either enforced or they're not being brought to a point where they can be -- where the person or the perpetrator, whatever, can be brought to trial for it. And why is that?"

"There are a number of ways that animals can be seized and I can't answer why they haven't been at this time," says Meris Bickford, a member of the Animal Welfare Advisory Council, which raises issues and recommends policy changes to the state's Animal Welfare Program in the Department of Agriculture.

Bickford is also an attorney who works at the Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals in Windham. And she recently bought a horse from Fair Play Farm. She says she paid several hundred dollars for it only because it needed rehabilitation. She says the horse was thin, had obvious eye wounds, broken teeth and was suffering from a skin condition known as rain rot.
Bickford also reported her experience at the farm to Maine Animal Welfare Program Director Norma Worley, who read a brief statement at the meeting. "I've been instructed by the District Attorney Evert Fowle not to comment on the existence or status of any investigation into alleged animal cruelty located in Kennebec or Somerset Counties."

What Worley will say is that members of her staff, including a state veterinarian, have been to the Clinton farm numerous times. She says they are working with Fair Play's own vet, have established benchmarks for care and will monitor the situation. "We have made the district attorney's office aware of our actions and they are assisting us as this investigation continues."

A call to the district attorney's office was not returned by airtime. And the owners of the farm could not be reached for comment for this story. But in an interview with MPBN last week, Brett and Alexis Ingraham (picured above) said they have nothing to hide. They say some of the horses they buy from racetracks or from other horse owners are in poor condition. They say they rehabilitate them, sell some and keep some for personal use.

Brett Ingraham: "We normally keep 50 of our own."
Susan Sharon: "You like to keep 50?"
Brett Ingraham: "Yeah, that's no lie. I mean I won't lie. I mean, if I could have a hundred I would. And it's not about. 'Oh wow, who's has more horses.' It's about that we can take care of them. And we know they're not going to go to slaughter. They're not going to be put down. You know what I'm saying? If they're here, I know they're safe and it's my mind. I can go to bed nights and sleep."
Alexis Ingraham: "We have people that actually pick on us a lot because they're like: 'Why do you keep feeding pets?'"
Brett Ingraham: "Right. 'Why do you keep feeding horses like that four-year-old that's got a bum knee or the one in the stall that's got two broken legs. Why do you keep doing it?' Why? Well, it's for our own. We do it for our own conscience."

Marilyn Goodreau of the Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals says she's pleased to hear the district attorney's office is part of the investigation. She says there's just one thing she wants to come out of it. "If I speak for the Society, the only thing that's important to us is that they give an opportunity to have good health, get placed in homes that appreciate them, but the bottom line is to get them fed."

Council members point out that just a few years ago, the state's animal welfare program had seven agents to investigate alleged cases of animal cruelty and neglect. But because of budget cuts the program has been reduced to four. Their job includes annual inspection of more than 400 dog kennels across the state. And some observers say that's simply not adequate oversight for animals in the state of Maine.