Animal Liberation Queensland says convicted stockman should not have kept remaining horses

An animal welfare group believes a stockman who pleaded guilty to breaching his duty of care to his horses – leaving 14 of them dead – should not have been allowed to keep any remaining animals.

Oberle was fined $20,000 for breaching his duty of care to his horses.

Animal Liberation Queensland says it believes a stockman who pleaded guilty to breaching a duty of care to his horses should not have been allowed to keep any remaining animals.

Terence John Oberle on Tuesday pleaded guilty to 21 counts of breaching a duty of care to animals.

Oberle, 74, was fined $20,000 and banned from taking on any more horses than the six he currently owned for the next 10 years, unless he had permission from the department.

The court heard Oberle required the horses for his livelihood, and they had fully recovered.

ALQ executive director Chay Neal said he believed Oberle should not have been allowed to keep those horses.

“It is important that animal cruelty cases like this are taken seriously and that more cases of cruelty are prosecuted in order to provide a deterrent to others,” he said.

“In addition to a larger fine, we would have liked to have seen a prohibition handed down on owning or being responsible for any animals for life.”

Oberle had been working a cattle property north of Marlborough in Central Queensland while his 21 horses were left to starve in a bare, drought-affected paddock at Charlton in 2019, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

While he arranged for water for his horses, he had neglected to arrange for appropriate feed to be provided.

Eventually, 14 of the horses died of starvation, with two in such poor condition they had to be put down.

Mr Neal said caring for animals came with responsibility and he was pleased authorities had prosecuted.

“Restricted income or impacts from drought should never be accepted as an excuse to let animals starve to death,” he said.