Several law enforcement agencies in Houston, Texas, have joined to establish a task force specifically designed to address equine cruelty crimes in the Acres Homes neighborhood and surrounding areas. The task force will be named for a malnourished horse that was euthanized last year.

Last January, three horses were found dead on properties in Acres Homes. Necropsies on two of those horses revealed that the animals died of malnutrition. Another horse named Monty was rescued after a Houston police captain watched him collapse on a highway median strip. The horse was an estimated 250 pounds underweight and was subsequently euthanized due to his condition.

Later the same month, several other horses were removed from properties in the same location. At the time, Houston Humane Society spokeswoman Monica Schmidt said many of the horses in the area subsisted on rations of day-old bread and potatoes.

On Jan. 15, the Houston Humane Society, along with the Houston Police Department (HPD), North Division Differential Response Team Unit, Crime Stoppers of Houston, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, the Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct 5, and Houston PetSet, established Monty’s Task Force