Ten horses were removed from a Black Forest property, and their owner was cited for alleged animal abuse by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office on Monday.

The action came amid growing community outrage over the discovery of at least a dozen dead horses Friday at the stables.

Sherri Brunzell, identified as the owner of the horses kept at stables on the 5400 block of Burgess Road, off Milam Road, was cited for misdemeanor animal cruelty, sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Greg White said.

The Colorado Humane Society and the ASPCA were called in Monday afternoon to assist the Sheriff’s Office in moving the horses to a large-animal facility in El Paso County, White said. The Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region took possession of several llamas on the property.

The Sheriff’s Office came under pressure from thousands in the community since Friday after mounted unit investigators determined the horses were not in “imminent danger” and allowed the animals to remain at the stables, stating that there was no legal recourse to seize the horses.

More than 16,000 people in the region and horse enthusiasts across the country and the world took to Facebook through a page titled “Justice for Dual Peppy” after a former champion cutting horse owned by Brunzell was photographed appearing emaciated and malnourished.

A petition on Change.org demanding that the Sheriff’s Office remove the horses got more than 2,000 signatures in one day.

The decomposing carcasses of at least a dozen horses covered with tarps were discovered by Diana Ragula, who rents a home adjacent to the horse stables.

The cause of the horses’ deaths, White said, had not been determined and the Sheriff’s Office had not decided whether to order necropsies.

The Sheriff’s Office mounted unit was called to the property after Ragula and her mother-in-law, Denise Pipher, found the carcasses in an isolated section of the stables.

“I saw a long femur bone underneath a tarp and when I went to lift it, there were the bones of all these dead horses, rotting,” Ragula said. “The horses that were still alive were locked up in there with all the remains, walking around in about 3 feet of their own manure, with moldy water and no pasture to feed on.”

The investigation took a turn Monday when Elbert County veterinarian Dr. Randy Parker of Range View Equine Associates examined the horses. Parker’s assessment, White explained during a news conference, gave the Sheriff’s Office probable cause to seize the horses and charge Brunzell with misdemeanor animal cruelty.

Brunzell, who had told investigators that the horses had died during the winter from colic, can petition the court to regain possession of the confiscated horses, White added.

Amid the community’s indignation was an outpouring of people who offered to help take care of the horses with food, transportation and boarding.

The Colorado Horsecare Food Bank offered to take custody of the horses and donate hay to feed them. In a statement Monday, the owners of the Blue Rose Ranch Horse Rescue in Springfield decried the horses’ living conditions and condemned the Sheriff’s Office handling of the situation, calling it “another example of less than excellent help from those that have been hired to serve and protect.”

On Monday afternoon, Lauren Martin and her father, Bradley, stood outside the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region in Colorado Springs with signs to raise awareness of the horses’ plight and demanded that the Sheriff’s Office request the assistance of other agencies to rescue the horses.

As a Colorado State University graduate with a degree in equine science, 23-year-old Martin said she had to act on the horses’ behalf.

“I’m not here bashing anyone, and I know that there are laws that limit how police can get involved,” she said. “But those horses had clearly gone past the point of acceptable health and living conditions, the longer they wait to remove them, the worse they’ll get.”

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Dr. Randy Parker, a local veterenarian, looks over a horse at a stable on Burgess Rd. in Black Forest on Monday, Sept. 22, 2014. Last Friday, a neighbor called authorities because of concern for the horses living in the barn. A number of horse carcasses were found at the barn and the neighbors were concerned that some of the horses looked emaciated. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Dept. investigated and didn’t remove the horses. The investigation continued on Monday and the veterenarian was brought to the scene. (The Gazette/Jerilee Bennett)

(The Gazette/Jerilee Bennett)

A horse munches on hay at a stable in Black Forest. The horse was one of ten that was taken from a stable in Black Forest on Monday, Sept. 22, 2014. The owner was cited with misdemeanor animal cruelty. (The Gazette/Jerilee Bennett)

A horse feeds on hay at a stable in Black Forest. The horse was one of ten that was taken from a stable in Black Forest on Monday, Sept. 22, 2014. The owner was cited with misdemeanor animal cruelty. (The Gazette/Jerilee Bennett)

Concerned neighbor Diana Ragula looks over the barn where she found numerous horse carcasses and ten horses for which she had concern. She was looking from her home next door on Monday, Sept. 22, 2014. (The Gazette/Jerilee Bennett)