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6 Charged With Animal Cruelty After Raid At Arabber Stable

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Six people are facing animal cruelty charges after a raid on one of Baltimore's famous arabber stables. More than a dozen horses were removed from poor living conditions.

Tracey Leong spoke to people hoping to bring the horses back.

The stables have been empty since January. The stable owner, who is among the six being charged, faces 47 counts of animal cruelty.

The gates to the stables are now locked. Vacant for several months, it's a sight and sound people nearby are missing.

"Hear those bells, see the beautiful horses, smell the fruit, buy the fruit," said Ruaidhri Burke.

WJZ went inside the stables after the raid in January, speaking to one of the horse owners.

"These stables have been like this since I was a little boy," said Malik Muhammad, horse owner. "There's nothing wrong with the stalls. They have bedding, they have hay."

The 14 horses were taken away by Animal Control. The city health department found poor living conditions in the stables, with concern for the animals due to extremely cold temperatures.

Now, six of the horse owners are being charged with animal cruelty.

Baltimore's State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby released a statement, saying:

"The State's Attorney's Office respects the long standing history, tradition and contributions the Arabbers have made in the Baltimore community however it is my responsibility to uphold the law."

The street arabbers have been a part of the community for more than 150 years. All that remains now are memories.

Fracis Baroch is a merchant at the Hollins Market. He says the horses were well taken care of.

"Let them go in that lot, let them run around. They would brush them and everything. The stalls got cleaned and everything like that there," he said.

He says it's a tradition that needs to be returned to Baltimore.

"People were used to that. Back in the old days, that's all they used to buy off of horse and wagon or the back of a truck," said Baroch.

The 14 horses are being cared for at the Days End Farm Horse Rescue in Woodbine.

The trial date for the stable owner is set for May of this year.

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