Authorities say they arrested six people and seized about 750 animals in raids at three farms Tuesday amid allegations that horses and other animals were inhumanely treated or illegally slaughtered on the properties.
The raids came after an investigation by Miami-based Animal Recovery Mission, an animal-rights organization that says it accessed the Loxahatchee farms by befriending the owners, posing as customers and documenting the animal abuses through video and written reports.
Palm Beach sheriff’s spokeswoman Teri Barbera confirmed the Sheriff’s Office assisted the organization in the animal-cruelty case. Among the animals seized from the properties were goats, pigs, cattle, numerous species of birds, dogs and cats, and fighting roosters, Barbera said.
Tuesday’s raids came as a relief to Loxahatchee residents such as Debbie Hogg, 50, who said the stench of burning animal hair and flesh has long permeated the air in her neighborhood. She said she even has heard the tortured screams from afar.
“The animals always scream,” she said.
The six arrested Tuesday were Jorge Garcia, 48, and Rafael Ramirez, 50, both of Loxahatchee; Edegar Bica, 83, and Edgar Bica, 49, both of West Palm Beach; Jose Reyes, 38, listed as ‘at large’ for an address; and Monieram Rathibhan, 58, of West Palm Beach. All men were jailed on multiple counts of animal cruelty, sheriff’s jail records show.
Ramirez also faces the charge of buying, selling, possessing or transporting horse meat that is not stamped, the records show.
Jorge Garcia is the listed owner of Garcia’s, the farm at 15703 Orange Blvd. He and Ramirez both list the farm as their address, according to jail records. A phone call to a number listed at the farm went directly to voice mail. Attempts by the Sun Sentinel to reach friends and family of Bica and Rathibhan were unsuccessful.
Richard Couto, the founder of Animal Recovery Mission, said that about six months ago, the group began investigating the three farms: Garcia’s, at 15703 Orange Blvd., as well as two farms in the 14800 block of Collecting Canal Road and 2100 block of C. Road.
After accessing the farms, the organization recorded the inhumane killings of animals, including the killing of horses at least at two of the farms, Couto said. He said animals were skinned alive, suffocated in their own blood and horse meat was cut into filets to be sold for human consumption.
“The biggest crime at these farms is the butchering alive of horses and selling their meat,” he said.
People often buy horse meat to eat because they believe it can cure ailments such as the side effects from chemotherapy, or boost male libido, Couto said.
Across the three farms in Loxahatchee were horses, cows, goats, sheep, birds, dogs, cats, rabbits, alligators and crocodiles, Couto said. Some animals were found dead, while others weren’t healthy, he said.
Couto shared the group’s findings with authorities, and the sting was planned in about three weeks, he said.
Hogg, the resident who lives a few blocks from Garcia’s, said she previously contacted the Sheriff’s Office, but nothing seemed to happen as a result of her calls. “It gives me goose bumps because we’ve all been trying for years,” Hogg said.
Years ago, Hogg said, she was taken to Garcia’s by her brother, getting a pig for a barbecue. “The man had a big ol’ gun, with boots on, and he walked us to the back, and he said, ‘Pick out your pig.'”
They picked out a pig, but as they stood there, the man with a gun shot the pig, she said. They later passed on eating the pig and buried it in their backyard, she said.
In a report from WPTV-Ch. 5 in July, Jorge Garcia responded to complaints from neighbors about animal noise and stenches. He told the station at the time that his farm follows all protocols, in compliance with the law.
“They are lying,” he told the station. “Whoever is telling you these things needs to talk to me face to face.”
On Tuesday, Michael Conner, 27, of Loxahatchee, could see from a distance deputies and animal-control workers conducting their investigation at Garcia’s.
Conner said he was furious to learn of the inhumane animal killings allegedly happening in his neighborhood. “It’s a huge equestrian community,” Conner said of the Loxahatchee area. “I’m especially disgusted at all of this. It’s embarrassing that it was happening out here.”
Staff researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.
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