KEY POINTS:
Twenty-six of 31 starving horses the SPCA found at a South Auckland property in one of its biggest rescue operations will be put down.
Four of the horses - two mares and two foals - were removed from the property last Friday because they were in such a bad state they needed immediate care, said inspector Vicki Border.
The others, aged up to 24 years old, were still at the property.
Staff from the SPCA were feeding and monitoring them daily but their condition had deteriorated.
"It's a terrible situation because it was an avoidable situation," said Ms Border.
She praised the public for their support of the ill-treated horses.
Now most of the animals will be put down.
A mare and her foal were among the first to have their agony ended last night.
Ms Border said the local community had responded to calls for help on the SPCA website by donating more than $200 and at least 10 big bags of feed.
Despite this, many of the animals had infections and were so unhealthy that their internal organs have been affected.
Their owner, an elderly man who kept breeding more horses for racing, had co-operated with the SPCA and signed papers enabling it to care for them and find homes for them, Ms Border said.
SPCA general manager David Lloyd-Barker said no decision had been made yet about whether to prosecute the owner.
A conference would be held soon to discuss the issue.
TVOne said last night that the man accused of letting his animals starve is very old and is terminally ill with cancer.
Most of the horses will have to be put down because they are too wild to be approached or handled.
The animals were hard to find because few people would have had access to the property, said Ms Border.
She said that the SPCA had dealt with cases of one or two horses being ill-treated before.
But this was by far the biggest crisis she had been involved with.
"It has definitely been a very tiring, stressful and emotional situation. Very emotional."
Ms Border said the conditions the horses were found in were not uncommon and she had seen cats, dogs and even guinea pigs in similar ones.
Many people were too proud to ask for help when they couldn't take care of their animals any more, but others didn't even realise what they had done wrong.
Ms Border said the progress of the horses being spared was encouraging but it would take many months to ensure they were well enough to go to new homes.
Recovering horses were usually given to responsible new owners in exchange for a small donation.
