Currieburg woman accused in horse deaths
Charges allege Charlotte H. Bright, 76, neglected, killed and/or maimed animals
A Currieburg woman accused of killing and neglecting horses earlier this year appeared to cast aspersions on animal-protection officials during her initial court appearance to face criminal charges.
Charlotte H. Bright, 76, of Currieburg Road, just a few kilometres west of Stanley, made her first appearance in Fredericton provincial court Wednesday on three indictable charges laid by the New Brunswick SPCA recently.
She’s accused of killing, maiming, wounding or otherwise injuring horses she owned or cared for; neglecting those horses by failing to provide them with adequate food, water, shelter and care; and allowing unnecessary pain or suffering to those same horses.
The charges allege events in Currieburg on April 8.
Bright told Judge Henrik Tonning she’d consulted with a lawyer about the allegations.
“He’s an Ontario lawyer but he’s familiar with the humane society problems,” she said.
The defendant was referring to past issues she’s had with SPCA officials in another jurisdiction.
Bright said she hadn’t received disclosure on the April charges, and her counsel had directed her to obtain it.
Tonning set the case over to Dec. 20 for election and pleas to give her time to get the Crown file and to consult with defence counsel.
The NB SPCA issued a news release last month indicating the charges stemmed from the discovery of 14 dead horses in the Stanley area in the spring.
“The charges stem from an incident the NB SPCA animal-protection officers responded to in early April of this year involving several deceased horses,” the release said.
This isn’t the first time Bright has run afoul of authorities over horses. She made headlines in Ontario in 2018 after neighbours complained that horses at her farm in Blessington, Ont., were running wild and causing damage to adjacent properties, according to reports in the Belleville Intelligencer at the time.
She told Ontario reporters she’d been breeding and caring for Arabian horses for decades.
Bright had been charged by the Ontario Provincial Police with mischief as a result of those complaints, the Intelligencer reported, but in January 2019, those charges were withdrawn and Bright entered into a peace bond, requiring her to follow certain conditions.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.