Dozens come out to Black Forest town hall, discuss recent animal abuse case

People angry after seeing images of malnourished horses and llamas living among dead carcasses in a Black Forest barn last month, attended a town hall meeting Saturday in Black Forest to express anger and concern over how the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office handled the beginning stages of the attention-grabbing animal cruelty case.

“I appreciate the mounted patrol of the sheriff’s office being trained, but I don’t think their trained enough,” Black Forest resident and horse owner Karen Marchman said. “I know with this last case, there were vets other than the contracted vet who were so anxious to help but were denied access to help.”

It took the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office three days to call in a veterinarian to examine the horses and deplorable conditions.

El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn organized the town hall meeting.

“Let’s go back and examine our processes and procedures,” Glenn said. “Let’s make sure we have the ability to have open dialogue and if there are concerns we know who to contact and that we have a responsibility as government to make sure we’re following up with them, too.”

Earlier this week, the animals’ former owner, Sherri Brunzell, who faces animal cruelty charges, petitioned a court to get the living horses back. She was denied.

A representative from the sheriff’s office listened to citizen complaints and concerns, taking suggestions on how to better tackle future cases of animal abuse.

Karen Marchman argues it’s imperative to call in an experienced vet right away.

“A weekend is a lifetime if a horse is in distress,” Marchman said. “I just feel like a vet should be part of the protocol.”

Some speakers cried out for changes to Colorado’s existing animal cruelty laws.