Ranch wants horses returned

Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald

A Drumheller-area rancher is demanding the Alberta SPCA return all of his seized animals.

In an application filed with Court of Queen's Bench on Wednesday by Robin Byron Graham on behalf of Graham Ranching Co. Ltd., the ranch is seeking an order by the court that a veterinarian it selects be given immediate access to inspect all of the horses still in SPCA custody.

Graham alleges the 30 horses that have been kept at Brooks Auction Mart since they were seized in April are living in "appalling" conditions and should be returned to the ranch, where there is "more than ample prime pasture land, water and shelter."

He demands the society not sell or otherwise dispose of the seized horses.

The rancher included a report by a veterinarian, Dr. Uli Schmiemann, who said he found the horses in poor to average body condition, with some having rough hair coats and very likely parasite infestations, both external lice and internal worms.

"The housing conditions of these horses are inadequate," wrote Schliemann, a veterinarian the Grahams hired to look at all aspects of the ranch operation. More