The horse that had to be put down after falling into a ditch in Northfleet

by Alan Watkins

Three horses have been put down and another was injured after they were found wandering the streets of Northfleet.

The trio have put down by animal carers in the past fortnight. The fourth is reported to be very sick after it was thought to have been hit by a vehicle.

A Kent Police spokesman said: "Officers reported the animals were emaciated.

"The RSPCA took away two of them a fortnight ago and then had to put them down because of their condition.

"There was nowhere to put them around there where they could feed."

One carer called to help was Wayne May, of the animal charity Artisan Rarebreeds.

"This was the most appalling sight I had ever seen," he said. "Prior to me attending, these two horses had been penned in a car park for nearly 24 hours."

In the past year, he has handled 61 cases in Dartford borough where animals have been abandoned.

Mr May, pictured left, said: "The strange thing is all of them are males, but because they only have a value of about £4 each they are worthless to their owners."

The four horses were wandering about Northfleet's roads.

Two escaped capture until this week when they were corralled by police into a residents' car park in Hamerton Road.

Two of those who tried to help were injured when they were kicked by the stallions.

One of them was reported to have ended up in hospital. The other was said to have been kicked over a wall into a sunken ditch six feet below the car park.

Later, one of the two surviving horses jumped the same wall and broke its legs. It, too, had to be put down.

Its body was removed on Tuesday afternoon.

The RSPCA, a vet, Artisan Rarebreeds, council, police and British Horse Society workers were all involved in trying to save the year-old black-and-white animals.