Sheriff's office looking for owner of horse found on the loose

The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office is attempting to locate the owner of a horse that was found loose last week in the area of County 5th Street and Avenue 17E in Dome Valley.

“We aren’t sure if it was a stray or abandoned. I’m wondering if it wasn’t abandoned,” said Capt. Eben Bratcher, a spokesman for the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office. “We don’t know how long it had been out there before we got the call. The condition of the horse concerns us that it might have been loose for a while, but we don’t have any way of knowing that.”

Bratcher said that YCSO was contacted at about 5:15 p.m. on March 13 in reference to a loose horse in the area and that deputies assigned to the area located the horse on County 5th Street near the Gila River.

Bratcher said the deputies, as well as a Yuma County Sheriff’s Posse member, made attempts at locating the horse’s owner, but were unsuccessful. The horse is described as a palomino paint gelding, around 15 years of age.

“Our hope at this point is that either someone who has lost it is looking for it and will contact us, or someone who knows who it may belong to recognizes it and will contact us, so we can locate the owner,” Bratcher said.

YCSO is currently caring for the horse while attempting to locate the owner. Bratcher said the sheriff’s office will continue searching for the owner for about another week, but will ultimately have to turn it over to the custody of the state livestock officer.

Anyone with information about this horse is asked to contact Deputy Scott Bjornstad at 928-783-4427 or 928-342-1477.

James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854. Find him on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/YSJamesGilbert or on Twitter @YSJamesGilbert.