Six horses dumped in two months

The RSPCA wants to know what happened (Photo by Malcolm Drew)

The bodies of six dead horses have been found dumped next to country lanes in a Kent village over a two-month period.

Residents who discovered the animal carcases in Shoreham, near Sevenoaks, believe they may have been mistreated and want it stopped.

By law dead horses need to be disposed of by someone who is specially registered to remove them.

Malcolm Drew described finding a dead foal by the roadside early on a Sunday morning as a "terrible experience".

Another resident, Annette Bovington, said: "It's just absolutely horrid.

What we are really concerned about is what happens to the horses before they end up in the situation Vikki Dawe

"It's really, really shocking and deeply unpleasant for everybody and certainly for people out walking footpaths to suddenly come across a dead creature like this."

The RSPCA said it was keen to know how the animals were treated before they died.

RSPCA inspector Vikki Dawe said: "It's obviously distressing for the people that find them, and from our point of view what we are really concerned about is what happens to the horses before they end up in the situation where they are found.

"We don't know whether they are in a bad condition, whether they have been suffering, whether they have received any veterinary treatment before they died."