Eric Bruss is not a rookie cop. In his time as a member of the Santa Fe Police Department, he has made his share of traffic stops and investigated more than a few fishy circumstances.
Nothing he had seen on the job, however, prepared Bruss for what he saw traveling east on FM 1764. “I’ll be honest, it was pretty troubling,” Bruss said.
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‘A Layman Could Tell Something Was Seriously Wrong’
What Bruss saw was a horse trailer full of horses, but the animals were not standing up in the trailer like they should. Four animals were lying on top of one another on the trailer’s floor, unmoving. A fifth horse lay near the trailer’s rear, spastically kicking the other animals and slamming its body against the trailer’s railing.
Bruss pulled the truck hauling the trailer over in the 1700 block of Rush Road. A close look at the animals chilled him.
“I don’t have a lot of experience with horses, but even a layman could tell something was seriously wrong,” Bruss said.
“I thought they were dead. Only the one that was thrashing around appeared to be alive.”
The trailer’s owner told Bruss that he was coming from an auction barn in Algoa and that he was taking the horses to a veterinarian to be euthanized. Bruss instructed him to take the animals to the nearby facilities of Dr. Dennis Jenkins for evaluation.
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‘This Was Really Extreme’
When the trailer was brought to Jenkins’ clinic, the vet could do little but euthanize three of the animals immediately, Bruss said.
A fourth horse, still with a rope tied around its neck, was already dead upon arrival.
“As Dr. Jenkins made his evaluation, some of the things he pointed out were that these animals were severely underweight, bones showing, with long coats and their feet and teeth hadn’t been maintained,” Bruss said. “No case of animal cruelty is acceptable, but this was really extreme.”
Martin Bellow, 58, of La Marque has been charged with five counts of cruelty to animals, a state jail felony. Each charge carries a bond amount of $7,500.
Four other men with Bellow when Bruss pulled their vehicle over were not charged.
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‘Too Tough To Die’
One of the five horses did not perish during the ordeal, however. A young colt, too malnourished to even stand, was seized by police and turned over to Habitat for Horses, a nonprofit rescue group founded in Galveston County.
Group members said they were optimistic that the colt could gradually be nursed back to good health.
“We named him Tuff because he was too tough to die,” said Jerry Finch, the group’s founder. “We’ve just got him eating hay and drinking water, getting him rehydrated properly.
“We’re just trying to get him interested in living, and that’s the hardest thing in the world to do.”
Finch said he believed that Tuff was being raised only for sale for slaughter.
“That’s very common; you can tell by his feet that he hasn’t been walking probably since he was born,” he said.
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‘A Miracle’
Finch says that Tuff’s survival is still uncertain. As much will depend on the animal’s will to live and desire to go on as on the help provided by those now caring for him.
“You can see his spine sticking out; you can feel his ribs,” Finch said. “When they’re starving, an animal’s body will just start to eat the muscle. He’s just got no muscle left. It’s a miracle this guy’s alive.”
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Habitat for Horses always needs new foster homes for abused animals. To volunteer, call (409) 935-0277 or visit www.habitatforhorses.org.
