Russell Jonas is a veterinarian who was asked by the Leon County Sheriff's Office to stop by and evaluate the animals at a ranch near Centerville. After thorough examination the vet says the horses are healthy except for a two that need medical attention.

According to Jonas, they aren't victims of animal abuse, as some neighbors had believed, but victims of the drought or the owner knowing what to do in a drought.

"This is the first rain we've received in 6 months, and the pasture conditions and hay quality. The hay that we've been having to ship in from out of state, most of it has been low quality at best," said Jonas.

Investigators say the owner comes twice a week to replenish food and water for the horses. His name is Melvin. He didn't want to give out his last name. He was told to meet with sheriff's investigators to explain the condition of the horses.

"He showed me receipts from 2010 including four round bales of hay that he purchased just this week at $150 a round bale. He had taken this out there this week. He says that he comes up here twice a week to make sure the animals are okay. He has a neighbor that watches them," said Lt. Skip Young with the Leon County Sheriff's Department.

The sheriff's office says their investigation doesn't warrant any charges against Melvin.

"You see one horse that you think is sick, but it's not really sick. I have healthy horses. All my horses are healthy. Nothing has been abused. I'm not coming up here and not taking care of my business like I'm supposed to," said Melvin.

The two horses that needed medical attention were taken to the vet today to be evaluated.

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PETA is a well-known foundation setup to protect the rights of all animals. However, some of their tactics for doing so are questionable (which other animal rights organization is launching its own porn site?), even if they do end up getting the group a lot of coverage in the press.

Video games seem to be a favorite target for PETA, and you may remember Cooking Mama coming under fire for promoting cooking and eating meat. PETA went so far as to recreate the game online, renaming it Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals.

This week, the group has a new target due to the release of Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS. Apparently, through releasing that game both Nintendo and Mario are promoting animal cruelty due to the use of the Tanooki Tail Power-Suit.

PETA points out the fact that tanuki are raccoon dogs that are skinned alive for their fur. By using fur as a Tanooki suit, Mario is “sending the message” that buying and wearing the real fur is acceptable.

To help get the point across, PETA has drawn Mario in his Tanooki suit holding a racoon’s head with blood dripping all over the floor. You can also play Super Tanooki Skin 2D the game, which puts you in the role of a skinned raccoon performing jumps as you try to catch a flying Mario who is wearing your blood-drenched skin.

At best this is a leap by PETA to associate the game with the cruelty. I bet most players don’t even notice a link between a suit Mario wears in the game and the fur trade. I have never played a Mario game and wanted to go out and kill me some raccoons, either.

While this is sure to get PETA some healthy coverage, as this article demonstrates, I think their efforts would do more good targeting those who actually purchase the raccoon fur in the first place and then the stores that stock it.

You can play the game on the Mario Kills Tanooki web page, via IGN

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