DALLAS COUNTY, Iowa — Local 5 has learned the Iowa Department of Agriculture and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources investigated a rural Dallas County horse farm after there were reports of burned horse carcasses.
On March 10, the Iowa Department of Natural Resource sent a violation notice to Kory Kilbourne, who, according to the DNR, owns the property where Linda Kilbourne's horses are.
Linda Kilbourne was charged with five counts of improperly disposing of animal remains in May. Her court date is scheduled for August.
The DNR said they got a complaint about horse carcasses being burned.
"I investigated the site the following day and observed three carcasses covered with brush," DNR environmental specialist Bryan Bunton wrote in the letter. "At least one of the carcasses appears to have been set on fire. There was also a fourth carcass lying in the middle of the pen that appeared to have been decomposing for some time. I also observed a number of horse bones in two different locations."
To read the Iowa DNR's Notice of Violation, click here.
Local 5's Rachel Droze spoke to Linda Kilbourne Wednesday via text message.
"You cannot bury horses in Feb[ruary] on frozen ground," Kilbourne said via text. "The Iowa Code says you can burn them, which we tried to do. The cop came along and said we couldn't, so we stopped. The tractor quit working, so that also held up progress. We finally composted them. No one loves every one of my babies more than me, and I am crushed to lose one."
If animal remains aren't able to be buried, the DNR suggested in the March 10 letter that the Kilbourne's take them to Metro Park West Landfill because they accept animal carcasses.
Kilbourne told Local 5 via text message Wednesday that the landfill wasn't accepting remains at that time.
Local 5's Rachel Droze checked with Metro Waste Authority about that.
Metro Waste Authority said from February to April, they hadn't received any inquiries from people about the disposal of horse remain, and if they had, they would have been able to accept the remains.