Stephens County Sheriff's deputies removed more than  a dozen puppies from a home near Comanche Wednesday and are awaiting a veterinarian's report before deciding the status of horses on the land.

Calling it a case of hoarding, the sheriff said it appears that good intentions aren't being balanced by proper care  a growing trend.

Stephens County Sheriff Wayne McKinney said that the eight or nine horse at the property north of Comanche, near the intersection of old and new U.S. 81, have been on a watch list after complaints have poured in from concerned citizens. He said that his deputies went to the property to investigate further after learning that the six or seven horses that were being watched had the recent addition of two more horses on the five or six acres of range land.

McKinney said that a veterinarian was coming out to check on the horses because it's hard to gauge simply by sight the condition of the equines. The owner of a small herd himself, the sheriff said that without the professional's assessment you can't really tell the animals' condition.

"You have to look at the overall herd and you have to look at the overall conditions," McKinney said. "These were skinny but not like the 10 we took the other day in Grandview. I couldn't stand to look at them  some of them couldn't even stand."

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