NEW LEXINGTON, Ohio (AP) — Animal welfare authorities in central Ohio say they have seized 11 malnourished horses after initial reports about the situation emerged on Facebook.

WCMH-TV reports that the horses were taken away from an owner in Perry County, east of Columbus, on Saturday. Some of them were in critical condition.

A woman told the TV station that she drove by to check on the horses after reading reports of the neglect on Facebook. She then tipped off the Perry County Sheriff's Office.

Volunteers who took the horses described a wooded area where the animals were staying with no water, no hay and barely any grain. They were eating bark off trees to survive.