A Vidalia man was arrested Wednesday on charges of cruelty to animals.

According to a Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office statement, Lonnie Joe Cox, 53, 560 Stephens Road, Vidalia, was charged with one count of cruelty to animals after one of his horses died Wednesday night of apparent malnutrition.

CPSO received a complaint that afternoon that horses in Cox’s pastures were reportedly in poor condition, particularly one mare.

Deputies responding to the complaint found that there was little or no grass in the pastures and no food available.

There was, however, a trough of water.

Some of the horses were eating bark off trees.

While deputies felt most of the horses were in fair condition, they believed all needed to be fed, particularly two female horses with colts.

One of the mares was found on the ground with badly protruding bones and appeared to be gravely ill.

Deputies provided food for the horses and advised a relative of Cox’s, who was not home at the time, to have him cover the extremely ill mare with a blanket for the cold night ahead.

When Cox arrived home later in the evening the mare was dead.

According to the press statement, Capt. Charles “Junior” Tarver said Cox, who has cooperated with law enforcement, turned himself in at CPSO Thursday morning after giving away eight of the remaining horses.

He claims to have previously attempted to give them away before the mare became ill and the complaint was filed against him.

Cox was released from the parish jail on a personal surety bond approved by District Judge Leo Boothe.

According to the statement, Sheriff Randy Maxwell asked that the public continue to report any suspected cases of animal cruelty.

“I’m hoping that anyone who sees apparent cases (of cruelty) to animals will give us a call immediately in order that we can check it and hopefully prevent this type of thing from happing,” Maxwell stated.

“I feel very strongly that if people have animals, they absolutely need to take care of their basic needs or they will be arrested. Simple as that.”