Here’s an update on the story that prompted last week’s poll, Animal Abuse or Necessary Technique?, about a trainer recorded hitting a horse with a plastic bat.
Seventy-seven percent of respondents thought that kind of treatment was abusive, about fifteen percent weren’t sure, and nearly eight percent said it wasn’t.
Dane county officials will cite the trainer (if they can find her) for animal abuse. Their reasoning:
“We’ll issue the citation if we can find her,” said Doug Voegeli, Dane County’s director of environmental health.
Voegeli said Plasch met the two criteria — unnecessary pain and excessive pain — required in order to be cited for animal abuse. He said the decision was made after he reviewed the video and consulted with animal service officers from his department.
“We felt there were other methods that could be used” to load the horse, Voegeli said.