Neglected Horse Gets Facial Surgery

Story [There is a picture and it probably cracks the top five of worst injuries I've ever seen in a neglected horse.]

A badly neglected horse at the centre of a court case will be ready for adoption later this summer following facial reconstruction surgery in Edmonton.

Pearl was among several animals seized by the SPCA in December at a farm in Carrot Creek, about 160 kilometres east of Edmonton.

Pearl suffered terribly for months before surgery closed the cavity in his face. (CBC)When she was rescued, the mare had a gaping, infected hole in her face the size of a fist, Dr. Ryan Shoemaker, a veterinary surgeon, told CBC News.

This week, Shoemaker hoisted the 545-kilogram mare onto a special bed to mend the damage.

"Pearl's is a fairly extensive wound into her cavity," Shoemaker said. "We do quite a few facial injuries in horses but not usually to this degree."

When Pearl was brought to him, Shoemaker said, "My staff were nauseated because the smell [from her condition] was so bad."

Susan Fyfe, who directs the Rescue 100 Horses Foundation from her stable in Sherwood Park, took Pearl in after her rescue. Once word of the horse's condition was made public, she said, the money for Pearl's surgery started pouring in.

She said about $2,500 was raised toward the cost of the operation, with Shoemaker donating his services for the procedure, which can cost up to $7,000.

"As people that's part of our job — to make sure that when we have animals their health isn't compromised, and it's nice that other people will step in and fulfil that obligation," she said.

"No horse should have to endure the pain she's been through. "It's just nice for her to have it over, for her to be a normal horse."

Before the surgery, Pearl's injury was regularly infected, Fyfe said.

The successful two-hour surgery also means "it will be easier on her in the winter," Fyfe said.

"She won't have the cold air going [into the wound] through her nostrils, and in the summer she won't have to wear a mask and the bugs won't fly into the hole and you always worry about the flies laying eggs in her open wound. So just all in general, it will be much easier for her."

The horse's previous owner faces charges under the Animal Protection Act.

Would love to know how that case is going. Full extent of the law for once please?