BEATRICE – Gage County Sheriff Millard Gustafson says his department is receiving generous donations to assist with costs of impounding several horses recently, as part of a criminal investigation into alleged neglect.


"The number on the donations monetarily for the horses....we're a little over $20,000 now.....I took some checks up, on Sunday."


Gustafson says the U.S. Humane Society donated $2,500 to cover a necropsy performed by the University of Nebraska, where examination of dead horses was conducted to aid in the investigation. Any money left over from that donation, the sheriff says, is going toward paying veterinary costs.


He says a sheriff’s investigator is looking into grants as possible sources to pay other bills. Several horses seized in the investigation of veterinary clinics in Beatrice and Pickrell have been cared for at a Epona Horse Rescue, in Crete.


"The outpouring of support has just really been amazing. I know more about horses now, than I ever have...and I my own. But, they're more pasture pets, than anything. We haven't lost any of them, they're all doing well. Kudos to all those people...when I go up there (to Crete)....there are people running around like a beehive, helping out and taking care of them."


One charitable donation of $10,000 came from a single entity.  A hearing in Gage County District Court that was set for Tuesday on disposition of the animals, has been rescheduled for October 3rd. The veterinarian who had the animals in her possession has been cited for several counts of alleged neglect.