A North Whidbey woman whose underweight horses caused concern among animal lovers will not face criminal charges, but it appears the animals are getting some help.

Contrary to social media rumors, Sheriff Rick Felici said, no horses have been euthanized.

In an interview, Felici said community distress over the equine situation rose to a fever pitch in recent weeks on social media and beyond. Residents have blasted him with emails and comments and people spoke at a recent Island County commissioner meeting. People worried that it was going to be a repeat of the case on Hastie Lake Road in which two horses allegedly died from starvation and many neglected horses, dogs and cats were taken into custody.

A veterinarian went out to the Wilson Road property this week to examine the horses. Felici said she concluded that a couple of the horses are underweight, but they are not emaciated to the extent that it rises to the level of animal cruelty. The horse in the poorest health is 35 years old and has an eye infection, so its long-term prognosis is not clear.

The woman who owns the property had six or seven horses at one time, the sheriff said, but now just a few appear to be left. He said the woman apparently gave some of the horses to other people to make it easier to care for the ones that are left.

On Tuesday, North Whidbey resident Kathy Lester, who has years of experience with horses, presented the commissioners with images of horses at a Wilson Road property. She said the horses had no food or edible vegetation and some are clearly emaciated. She pointed out that state law requires people to provide their animals with necessary food and water.

She said the problem is that the sheriff’s office doesn’t have an animal control officer.

“The disturbing part of this is that people have called in about these horses over and over and over again and it has taken a lot of effort to just get someone there to check the situation out,” she said.

“As it is now, it is a struggle to be taken seriously,” she said.

Felici has been upfront about his difficulty in finding an animal control officer to replace Carol Barnes, who retired well over a year ago. Like many other law enforcement agencies around the nation, he’s also had trouble hiring a full staff of deputies.

Felici explained that the commissioners have approved funding for two full-time animal control officers to cover both Whidbey and Camano islands. He’s hopeful that one candidate is going to come on board after making it through background checks while he’s recently received applications from a few other candidates with the right backgrounds.