Police charge owner after report of horses being shot

A rural crime story that made the rounds on social media has taken a turn after a lab analyzed the remains of four dead horses.

Police from the Rural Municipality of Corman Park went to a property just outside Saskatoon off of Range Road 3063 on Dec. 23, responding to a call that the horses had been found dead.

The horses’ owner, Ronald Delver, reportedly told the responding officers that he suspected the animals had been shot.

The story made it onto social media after a widely shared Facebook post was put up asking people to be on the lookout for anyone who might have been responsible for shooting the animals.

Police say their investigation couldn’t support the claim made in this Facebook post that four horses found dead in the R.M. of Corman Park had been shot. (Arla Bayliss Delver/Facebook)

Corman Park police said Tuesday that their investigation couldn’t determine if the horses had been shot, leading them to team up with the Animal Protection Service of Saskatchewan to take partial remains of the horses to a lab for analysis.

In an update issued Tuesday, the Corman Park Police Service reported that the lab  found the horses had suffered from prolonged malnutrition.

That led to Delver, 72, being charged under the Animal Protection Act of Saskatchewan with causing an animal to be, or continue to be, in distress. He faces a maximum penalty of up to two years in jail and a fine of up to $25,000.

He’s due to appear March 27 in Saskatoon Provincial Court.