Two men fined for death of 27 horses

Necropsies suggested the horses ate toxic feed in July at Carousel Acres Equestrian Center and Stable in College Station. Brad Raphel, co-owner of the stable, was fined $4,000 related to five violations in applying a restricted-use pesticide in July, the Texas Department of Agriculture said. Each violation brings a $1,000 fine but the cap for a single incident is $4,000.

Walter Cronin, who said he was a friend of Raphel's, was fined $1,000 for failing to properly supervise the use of a restricted-use pesticide. He also received a warning for failing to maintain records for the first time the pesticide was applied.

Misuse of pesticide
According to the report, stable owner Brad Raphel did not have a state-required license to purchase or use the pesticide but applied PhosFume tablets to a silo of horse feed in July. Within hours of the application, horses began dying. Tests performed on the horses found that they had died from ingesting  phosphine gas, a product of a fumigant that is released from the pesticide tablets, which are designed to kill weevils in horse feed.

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