CHATSWORTH, Ga. — A foal found on a roll of barbed wire died because its mother was so malnourished it couldn’t sustain the young horse, leading to the arrest of a Chatsworth man for aggravated cruelty to an animal, officials in Murray County said.

John Frank Palmer, 48, of 1044 Robinson Road, was booked into the Murray County jail on Saturday and charged with aggravated cruelty to an animal for the death of the foal and two counts of cruelty to animals for the condition of two adult horses Palmer owned. The two adult horses were taken into custody by Murray County Animal Control and are being cared for by the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Equine Division.

“Both horses are thriving now,” Animal Control Director Lisa Green said. “Both are at a location outside of the county and they are in much better condition than they were when they were taken into custody.”

According to an incident report from the sheriff’s office, the report of abuse that led to Palmer’s arrest was made on April 5, but Green said this was not the first time her department had gotten a report on Palmer. Murray County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Brian Ingle said he remembers a complaint about Palmer’s horses escaping and being found in another person’s soybean field. Ingle said warrants for Palmer’s arrest were issued and deputies had been on the lookout for him. His arrest on Saturday was made by a Chatsworth Police Department officer who came into contact with him.

“We have had multiple calls of them (Palmer’s horses) being neglected and we weren’t able to find him or find the animals,” Green said. “When we found the first horse, the mare was tied with a chain to a dog house. There were injuries on her back from having a saddle on her way too much. That had to be healed.”

Deputy Tom Rhodes found the mare and the dead foal when he responded to a report of a horse being tied to a tree with “no shelter and … very malnourished.” The horse “was in need of medical attention for the sores on its back and both sides,” according to the incident report. A woman said her ex-boyfriend had allowed Palmer to bring his horses to her residence and “store them there.” They returned the next day and took most of the horses except for the horse that was in the backyard and the foal. According to the report, the foal “appeared to have been dead for a day or two. The foal also looked very malnourished and show(ed) signs that the animal hasn’t been taken care of in a while.”

Rhodes contacted Green. When Green arrived at the property the next day the mare remained but the dead foal was missing. On April 7, Green went to Palmer’s mother’s house and found the dead foal there unburied.

Green said that on a veterinarian body conditioning scoring system with a scale of 1 to 9, the living adult horses were graded as a 2 and a 3.

“Due to the mare being so malnourished, she couldn’t provide milk for the foal,” Green said. “The foal just couldn’t make it . … They said they provided milk but it obviously wasn’t enough to keep it alive.”

Green said if anyone suspects animal abuse they should call it in to the sheriff’s office or to animal control.

“Definitely call it in. We have a complaint line, and we do need a caller before we can investigate, and we don’t release that information,” Green said. “We go out saying there was a complaint and that gives us probable cause to be able to start looking into it. Just make sure that if they do suspect anything to please call us.”

Palmer was released from jail on Sunday on a $3,500 bond. Calls to a number listed for Palmer went unanswered Monday afternoon.