On Monday, in what could be one of the most shocking cases of animal cruelty in recent news, 49 dead horses were found on a Pendleton County, Ky. farm.

"In nine years, this is the worst case of animal cruelty I've seen," Scott Pracht, Pendleton County equine investigator, told Cincinnati.com.

Animal Control and Emergency Management arrived at the farm after an anonymous tip. They discovered 35 living horses and 15 horses suffering from malnourishment, in addition to the 49 carcasses. Some of the horse skeletons were reportedly wearing halters. Minimal hay was found to feed the horses, and some of it lay in pools of water alongside the dead bodies. Several live horses were also seen tangled in barbed wire.

According to Fox 19, Larry Browning, farm owner, was charged with 15 counts of second degree animal cruelty in regards to the malnourished horses, which were taken to foster case in Kenton County, and 49 counts of not disposing of an animal carcass within 48 hours, according to Cincinnati.com

"I have not done one thing wrong," Browning said. "I just know they came in here and said there were some thin horses, which there were. They took some of them and put them in different farms [Monday]."

About three dozen horses remain on Browning's farm, according to Pracht. The farmer has explained why he has so many horses, which he apparently can't handle.

"In the last two years, I've probably had close to 100 horses dropped off. Now, some of them straighten up. I mean, I worm them all and ... this winter I spent two or three thousand dollars on hay," Browning said. "This didn't happen until they stopped the slaughter. Once they stopped the slaughtering, people didn't have an outlet for their old horses, crazy, or mean horses."

Browning claims people continue to drop off horses despite his "No Trespassing" signs.

" ...when they get mean or crazy or a certain age, or they're crippled or they're really, really old, I think it's more humane to slaughter [horses] than to let them starve to death, a slow miserable death," the 63-year-old farmer said. "I really do."

Browning's court date is April 15.

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @SH____4.

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