Dead horse dumped near North Philadelphia auto yard

NORTH PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - A dead horse was dumped near an auto yard in North Philadelphia.

WARNING: Story contains graphic images.

It was last Tuesday around 3 p.m. when Kevin Beady entered his boss's North Philly property from the Lewis Street entrance.

"I thought it was a bear. I walked over to touch it to see if it would move. It was a dead horse laying there," he told FOX 29.

Turns out, it was a small, brown horse that was deceased. It was curled up along the stone support of a rail bridge. He told his boss's son Joe Holton.

The animal appears to have been there for a while before being discovered and the Holtons, who run an auto storage yard along North Delaware Avenue, say the people who dumped it would had to carry it past the heavy, metal gate to keep-out intruders.

The Holtons--who hold a towing contract with the city--struggle with vandals sneaking onto their property and damaging vehicles, but this hasn't happened before

"I guess it's not vandalism. It's just disgusting. It's sick honestly," Holton said.

Holton says he called city animal control and received no response. FOX 29 called Tuesday and Holton tried again. Within an hour, a supervisor with city sanitation pulled up to investigate.

"We've picked up cats. dogs, raccoons, possums, skunks, big dogs on occasion a deer, but never a horse," Tom West with city sanitation said.

Workers from animal control arrived and the animal was moved by a lift from the property.

Audra Houghton of animal control says disposing of a dead horse is a significant expense, but this isn't the answer.

"The horse could have ben alive when it landed at that spot. Somebody could have dumped it there. It's sad it had to be put there at all," she said.