BAKER CITY (AP) — More horses may be abandoned this winter by owners who can’t afford to care for them as hay prices rise, Oregon State Veterinarian Don Hansen predicted.

In addition, he said, the last horse-slaughtering plants in the United States, where unwanted animals could be sent, have closed because of stricter federal or state regulations.

He said abandonments also increased last year, mostly in the fall and winter, as hay hit $200 a ton.

When pasture grasses go brown, Hansen said, some owners have to turn to hay for feed.

Baker County District Attorney Matt Shirtcliff said people who abandon horses can be charged with animal neglect, which carries a maximum penalty in Oregon of a year in jail and a fine of $6,250.

“We had a couple of animal neglect cases recently,” Shirtcliff said. “We are starting to get a few additional complaints. It’s not the big ranches that are doing this. It’s the people with a few horses,” Shirtcliff said. “We had one lady last year who wasn’t feeding her horses. She couldn’t afford the feed.”

Rodger Huffman, the state brand inspector with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said he knows of several cases from last fall and winter across Oregon.

Huffman said hay prices have been driven to record highs by soaring costs for fuel, petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides, equipment and labor, and other factors.

So far, most of the horse abandonment cases in Oregon have occurred in Malheur County in the state’s remote southeast corner, Huffman said.

“These horses just show up on public lands. Because they are not marked, we have not been able to find the owners,” Huffman said.

Huffman said that since the last American slaughterhouses closed, horse traders who bought animals for that purpose have to send them to Canada or Mexico, something that is profitable only if the horses are not emaciated.

He said thin horses usually were used for canned dog food labeled “animal parts” or “animal byproducts,” but now transportation costs can be more than a skinny horse is worth for dog food.