{"id":86577,"date":"2025-08-22T03:58:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T03:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/86577\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T03:58:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T03:58:18","slug":"rspca-wont-pursue-charges-over-emaciation-of-horses-onced-owned-by-vanessa-goodwin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/86577\/","title":{"rendered":"RSPCA won’t pursue charges over emaciation of horses onced owned by Vanessa Goodwin"},"content":{"rendered":"

An investigation into the treatment of three emaciated thoroughbred horses, once owned by former Tasmanian attorney-general Vanessa Goodwin, has come to a close, with the RSPCA deciding not to lay charges.<\/p>\n

Eighteen months on from the horses’ discovery and rescue<\/a>, RSPCA Tasmania said it has “thoroughly investigated” the matter and put it before its prosecution panel.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Brightside Farm Sanctuary said the horses were starving when they were first rescued.\u00a0 (Supplied:\u00a0Brightside Farm Sanctuary)<\/p>\n

“After an extensive review of the facts, and what occurred in relation to this incident, the decision has been made by the RSPCA that court proceedings will not be commenced,” RSPCA Tasmania said.<\/p>\n

The horses were once owned by Ms Goodwin, who died from brain cancer in 2018, aged 48.<\/p>\n

When she passed away, her horses came to be owned by an interstate cousin. He paid a part-time carer to check in weekly at the Acton Park property, owned by a different landowner, where they were being kept on an agistment arrangement.<\/p>\n

\"Dry<\/p>\n

The property at Acton Park, Tasmania, where the horses were found in March 2024. (ABC News: Madeleine Rojahn)<\/p>\n

However, the carer said she struggled to look after the horses, expressing concerns to the owner such as the property being unsuitable and them needing daily interaction.<\/p>\n

In March 2024, neighbours of the Acton Park property the horses were kept at and friends of Ms Goodwin, raised the alarm, saying they had seen their condition deteriorate.<\/p>\n

The cousin told the ABC that his location and challenging environmental conditions had exacerbated their state \u2014 with widespread reports of dry conditions at the time.<\/a><\/p>\n

“Our actions simply didn’t match the urgency of the situation. For this I am enormously and unequivocally regretful,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Horses<\/p>\n

Horses Missy and Rejoice eating from a food pail.\u00a0 (Supplied:\u00a0Brightside Farm Sanctuary)<\/p>\n

The horses, named Missy, Rejoice and Kim, were rescued by Brightside Farm Sanctuary, with Kim needing to be euthanased soon after due to her condition.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Brightside Farm Santuary said Rejoice and Missy made significant improvements after being rescued last year. (Supplied:\u00a0Brightside Farm Sanctuary)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

When the horses first arrived their spines were “sticking out”, the Sanctuary said. (Supplied:\u00a0Brightside Farm Sanctuary)<\/p>\n

The other two horses lived at the sanctuary at Cradoc, south of Hobart, since the rescue.<\/p>\n

However, owner Emma Haswell said “a very sad incident” had occurred, resulting in both being euthanased.<\/p>\n

“One of them de-gloved her entire leg, we do not know how it happened,” Ms Haswell said.<\/p>\n

“I had to have her put to sleep and decided with the vet it was kinder to put them to sleep together as they were both very old.<\/p>\n

“It was a terribly hard decision to make.”<\/p>\n

She said due to personal circumstances she had not yet made a public announcement on Brightside’s social media page.<\/p>\n

The cousin of Ms Goodwin and the caretaker have both been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An investigation into the treatment of three emaciated thoroughbred horses, once owned by former Tasmanian attorney-general Vanessa Goodwin,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1312,64,63,64618,134,64617,64619,28721,64621,2801,64620],"class_list":{"0":"post-86577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-animal-abuse","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cruelty","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-horse","14":"tag-rehoming","15":"tag-rspca","16":"tag-starving","17":"tag-tasmania","18":"tag-vanessa-goodwin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}