By HEATHER NELLIS

For the C-S-E

TOWN OF FLORIDA — Four months ago, 15 bony, parasite-ridden horses were seized from a Sprakers residence and transported to the comfort of the Easy Street Horse Rescue on Langley Road.

Soon, nine of them, plus a recently birthed foal, will be ready for adoption, and two have already gone to “forever homes,” thanks to what rescue Director Nina Bellinger described as “the miracle of groceries.”

Still, two of the seized horses had to be euthanized because of severe malnutrition, parasite infestation and injuries, and the health of the others will predicate their euthanasia, or their permanent stay at the rescue.

Meanwhile, the criminal case against Carl L. Vitale, 51, of 656 Lynk St., has been handed up from Root Town Court to Montgomery County District Attorney James “Jed” Conboy, and is pending.

Vitale was charged in April with two felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, 15 misdemeanors and four violations, all in connection to the March seizure of the horses at his home.

Police allege Vitale failed to provide each of the seized animals with sustenance, and there were four identifiable horse carcasses on the site that were not properly disposed.

Conboy said Tuesday he withdrew the felony charges against Vitale and replaced them with misdemeanors. He said the felonies didn’t apply under the definitions set forth by Agriculture and Markets laws, which specifically exclude horses from the aggravated animal cruelty definitions under the definition of a companion animal.

Further, Conboy said the alleged conduct of Vitale was not “intended to cause extreme physical pain” nor done in a “depraved or sadistic manner,” which are definitions set forth under the felony’s statute.

“The case is, the horses were allegedly not being cared for. But nothing in the paperwork showed Vitale either intended to cause extreme physical pain, or did this in an especially depraved or sadistic manner. And an essential element of the statute is the companion animal, and horses are specifically not designated as a companion animal,” he said.

Root town Code Enforcement Officer Clifton Dorrough said his file on Vitale dates back to July 2009, when he first issued citations on the dilapidated exterior structures that served as the horses’ shelter, plus other code violations.

Dorrough said he returned to Vitale’s home at least a half-dozen times after that first visit in an attempt to “get him to clean up the property and get the outer properties straightened out, but it never happened.”

That prompted him to charge Vitale with misdemeanors in March, which were issued with the assistance of the sheriff’s office, Dorrough said, and then he condemned the entire property.

Bellinger said she spoke with Conboy, and though she agrees with his decision to replace the felony charges with misdemeanors, “there are a bunch of us who expect to fill the court room [if] it goes to trial. Those horses that died, died a suffering death. He may not have done them physical harm, but he didn’t help them when they were hurt.”

Bellinger said she’s still actively fundraising to pay the remainder of the veterinarian bills, plus the anticipated gelding of one last stallion. Fortunately, staff at Saratoga Equine have given the non-profit time to pay their balance, but more than $3,000 is owed, Bellinger said.

People can donate via PayPal to easystreetrescue@aol.com, or make checks payable to the Easy Street Horse Rescue at 109 Langley Road, Amsterdam.

Bellinger said the rescue will also be accepting unwanted housewares and other items between today and Friday to participate in the town of Florida’s annual garage sale scheduled Saturday.

Bellinger said a donated horse trailer is parked at the rescue’s driveway, and people can drop off items they want to donate and leave them in the trailer. All money raised will go toward veterinary bills.

“We don’t price the goods during the sale, we just ask that people make a donation instead,” she explained.