1 CHICAGO - The four horses hadn't been visited in weeks.
2 There was no water in their buckets, no hay in their stalsl.
3 All of the animals looked dangerously thin.
4 The horses' caregiver apparently had stopped showing up.
5 So even though the horses were not hers, Joyce Benes, the owner of an Oswego stable, fed them her own hay.
6 But with hay prices as much as five times higher than usual because of last year's drought, she couldn't afford to do so indefinitely, she said.
7 Desperate, Benes called the Illinois Department of Agriculture in January for help, then waited, she said.
8 And waited. 'I must've jumped up and down for two weeks,' Benes said.
9 'I said, ‘I can't have you do this.
10 I can't have you step in when they die.
11 You need to step in now'. On Feb. 15, the state impounded two of the abandoned horses and sent the other two back to their original owners, who were unaware that the woman hired to care for the animals had disappeared, said Jeff Squibb, spokesman for the Agriculture Department.
12 State officials said the case was given top priority.
13 The response, they said, was as timely as possible for an agency with five investigators covering animal abuse and neglect complaints in 102 counties, while also juggling other responsibilities.
14 But some horse rescue operators say a perfect storm of high hay prices, a bad economy and ineffective government oversight has created a crisis.
15 Dozens - perhaps hundreds - of horses and other large animals have been abandoned or neglected with no consequences for the owners, according to several horse rescue operators, based on complaints received.
16 'It's pretty rough out there right now,' said Tony Pecho, president of Illinois Horse Rescue of Will County, who estimates that 35 to 50 abandoned horses are running free near his organization's base in Beecher.
17 'I'm very, very worried about it'. Horse rescue organizations such as Pecho's have picked up abandoned horses on the side of the road and roaming through suburban neighborhoods.
18 Their shelters are crowded to capacity with sometimes three times as many horses as usual, and operators have had to turn away new ones, they said.
19 At the same time, several county animal control departments in the Chicago area say they have tried to cope with an unusually high number of horse abandonment calls, which have to be handled by staffs and facilities mostly equipped to deal with cats and dogs.
20 'I can't keep a horse on this property,' said Julie Boudreau, administrative director for Kankakee County Animal Control and Adoption Center.
21 'I don't really know of any animal control agencies that have the ability to care for all species of animals'.
22 In the past six months, the Kankakee center has received at least a dozen calls asking for help with horses hit by cars, running at large or suspected of being neglected, she said.
23 'I can only hope that it's not going to get worse,' Boudreau said.
24 According to the state's Humane Care for Animals Act, cases of abuse or neglect - known as humane care calls - can be investigated in several ways.
25 County animal control departments have the authority to issue citations and work with owners on improving care.
26 Rescue organizations and animal advocacy staff and volunteers also may be approved by the state to handle abuse and neglect calls.
27 Similarly, sheriff's and police departments can investigate cases and have the authority to seize animals when an owner is arrested.
28 But short of an arrest, permission to remove or impound animals must come from the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare, said Dr. Mark Ernst, the state veterinarian.
29 After ensuring that the owners had an opportunity to correct problems, state officials must agree that an impoundment order should be issued, a policy that protects owners as much as the animals, Squibb said.
30 'These are the same laws that prevent the Department of Agriculture from kicking in your front door and taking your dog or cat,' he said.
31 Budget cuts in the last six years, however, have made it a challenge to handle humane care calls, state and local animal welfare officials acknowledge.
32 In 2002, the Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare had 32 employees compared with 12 now.
33 The bureau's budget was slashed from $7 million to $4.6 million in the same time period, Squibb said.
34 Today, five investigators handle animal complaints from across the state, with each responsible for as many as 15 counties.
35 Last year, 969 humane care complaints were made to the bureau, Squibb said.
36 Investigators are responsible for other duties, including inspecting 2,500 pet shops, kennels, stables and other facilities licensed to hold animals.
37 They also monitor the movement of all animals to be sure diseases aren't introduced to the state.
38 'Everyone's resources are stretched thin, and there's a limit to what we can provide,' Squibb said.
39 'If that's not good enough for people, I suggest they contact their lawmakers and tell them to start providing additional resources'.
40 Shortly after the budget cuts, state officials sent a letter to county animal control offices reminding them that they have the power to look into animal welfare cases.
41 Then the recession hit, and a drought last year caused hay prices to skyrocket from $2 to as much as $10 a bale, animal advocates said.
42 As a result, the Will County Animal Control office is handling three times the usual number of horse calls, said Lorrie Callahan, the officer who specializes in equine cases.
43 Although she tried to work with the Department of Agriculture to investigate calls, Callahan now handles the cases herself, impounding horses the same way she would a dog or cat, she said.
44 'Otherwise, there have been times that you sit there and wait forever,' she said.
45 'There's no one coming to assist you, so you have to do something'.
46 Some horse rescue workers say county animal control offices are often unresponsive or ill-equipped to handle horse calls because of staff shortages or facility limitations.
47 'I know that lots of counties rely on us now because we do have the expertise on horses,' said Tracy McGonigle, executive director of the Hooved Animal Humane Society in Woodstock.
48 The group has 58 horses today compared with 23 in 2011, McGonigle said.
49 At the Hooved Animal Rescue & Protection Society in Barrington, founder Donna Ewing has had to turn away horses in need because she doesn't have space.
50 'What is happening now is creating the most hideously cruel situation for animals I've ever seen,' she said.
51 Other horse advocates worry that the lack of government oversight allows repeat abusers to continue hurting animals without repercussions.
52 Some have called for a change in how the state, counties and animal advocacy organizations handle cases of animal abuse.
53 They have argued for an easier process for residents to become animal welfare investigators, and for more consistent communication among all the groups handling horse abuse cases.
54 'They just continue to neglect the animals, and the cycle is never, ever broken,' said Gail Vacca, president of the Illinois Equine Humane Center in Big Rock.
55 'We need to have a better working system'.
56 Ernst, the state veterinarian, said that while the shortage of investigators is 'not optimum,' his bureau works hard to prioritize the most pressing cases.
57 Those needing immediate attention are handled quickly, he said.
58 Responding to recent concerns about the bureau's response in handing complaints about abused and neglected horses, state officials are looking for ways to meet with law enforcement, animal control and other groups to review laws regarding animal welfare, he said.
59 'Every day people on our staff are trying to make the best of a horrific situation,' Squibb said.
60 'There are no perfect solutions'.

So even though the horses were not hers , Joyce Benes , the owner of an Oswego stable , fed them her own hay .
horses were not hers ,
Who's horses are they?