Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Economic and atmospheric conditions have created a "perfect storm" of hardship for animals this winter, the director of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said today.

E.J. Finocchio, a veterinarian and director of the RISPCA, said donations and adoptions are down and relinquishments and euthanasias are up.

Just yesterday, Finocchio said, six pets were left at the society's East Providence shelter because their owners had been evicted by foreclosure. "That's just in one day," he said.

It's worse for larger animals needing care, he said.

"We do not have a facility" for animals such as horses that are starving to death because their owners can't afford to feed them or provide veterinary care, he said.

Three horses died last year in separate Lincoln and West Greenwich cases. Two people in the West Greenwich case pleaded no contest this week and were ordered to pay $500 in restitution and serve 50 hours of community service.

Donalyn Zaborski-Blinkhorn and Russell Brightman must also allow the RISPCA to monitor the five horses and two ponies still living in a 10-by-10-foot pen and 150-by-200-foot enclosure off Victory Highway in West Greenwich.

The RISPCA, he said, has to be careful about moving horses to private farms that take in rescued animals, because overwhelming them could result in cruelty conditions at the shelter farms.

The owners of the animals in West Greenwich were given lines of credit to buy hay and grain. People wanting to donate for the care and feeding of horses, donkeys and ponies in Rhode Island can contribute to the RISPCA and their donations will be earmarked for those animals, he said.

 Tags  animal cruelty Lincoln West Greenwich

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