At least 27 horses have starved to death on a ranch northeast of Edmonton and an animal protection agency has seized more than 100 others.

The Alberta SPCA found 27 horses dead on a farm northeast of Edmonton when officials raided the property late last month.  About 100 of the remaining horses were transported to a nearby feedlot to recover.

The farm near Andrew, belongs to Hinz-Schleuter Arabians.

The owner of the farm refused to speak to CTV News on Sunday, but neighbours say the condition of many of the horses was appalling.

"I just felt that I couldn't drive down my road anymore because it was too painful to drive down the road and see the horses in the shape they were in," said neighbour Olivia Chasse.

Chasse says she called the SPCA and reported the farm almost two years ago.

"We have bald eagles coming up from the river to eat dead horses. I hate to think it's taken that long," she said.

The SPCA admits they received several complaints about the farm, but said they must gather enough evidence before charges can be laid against the owner.

Alberta SPCA asked Garth Rogers, a manager with Nilsson Bros. auctioneers in nearby Clyde, to pick up the surviving 101 horses and take them to its feedlot to recover.

"This is not a normal horse sale; this an SPCA seizure," Mr. Rogers said.

"We work with them just for the sake of the animals -- we don't want to see animals under duress either, so we do whatever we can to get the animals fixed up.

"I have zero compassion for people who don't feed them."

The truckers who transported the remaining animals said the conditions were unimaginable.

"They didn't have any feed or water or nothing. But the worst part was the barn -- it was so full of manure that you couldn't stand it, and the ammonia smell was actually killing animals, killing the rabbits in there," said Cody Hrehorets of Cody's Transport.

Mr. Hrehorets's business partner, Trevor Kozak, said they found horses with their ribs showing, and some of the younger horses were shut in a shed with chickens and geese.

Mr. Kozak said he fears the horses, mainly Arabians -- which can normally sell from $10,000 to $75,000 each -- might never recover from the experience.

In August 2005, the SPCA fined Hinz-Schleuter $1,000 after repeated warnings to take better care of its 100-head herd. According to an Alberta SPCA newsletter, the animals were so underfed that "many were in distress."

With files from Scott Roberts and The Canadian Press