A massive rescue effort is underway in the B.C. Interior after numerous horses were discovered dead at a First Nations reserve.

Laird Archie, a hay supplier that lives on the Canim Lake Indian Reserve near 100 Mile House, says he found 19 dead this week alone when he was out snowmobiling, and says another 30 are missing.

An estimated herd of 90 horses roam the area near the reserve, many of which are underweight and malnourished.

Archie, who says his cousin owns approximately 60 of the animals, has contacted the owners for permission to feed the suffering horses, but hasn't heard back from them.

Residents say people living in the reserve have thrown bales of hay over the fence to provide nourishment, but the animals are too weak to reach it.

"They can't get across the fields because the snow is too deep," said Keith Lang, whose daughter gets hay for her horses in the area.

"It's about three feet deep. The horses are too weak to even smell the hay. Four aborted colts have been found, and that means those horses are too sick to carry them to term."

Archie worries other horses will perish within days if immediate action isn't taken.

"That's why I've been looking for the horses and I told the SPCA," he said. "You can see their bones -- they can barely stand. I don't want them to be left on the reserve. As soon as no one's looking they'll be left alone again, and not fed."

Shawn Eccles of the BC SPCA says the agency got a complaint about the suffering animals back in January, but animal protection officers were not able to locate the horses.

A more detailed complaint on Monday alerted the agency to the locations of the animals, and an officer is now speaking with band and council members.

Eccles says the SPCA has not been able to immediately identify who is responsible for the horses, but says the initial owner of the horses may have passed away.

"This has allowed the herd to grow exponentially and that's a problem," he told CTV News. "They are now considered to be wild or feral which is making the problem even more complicated."

"They've resorted back to being wild because they've been forced to fend for themselves," said Becky Lang, who photographed the dead horses.

"The chiefs say these are wild horses, but these aren't. These are domestic horses that people have owned and have turned out to free range."

An additional problem is the vastness of the area the horses roam.

"This is a wild herd that knows no boundaries," said Eccles.

"The area is 450 square miles that the animals are running loose on, not sure how we can even start to get feed into all of these animals."

Some of the horses are located in areas only accessible by snowmobile or helicopter.

"The area is huge," said Keith Lang. "Without an aerial view of where the horses are its almost impossible to find them."

If it is deemed some of the horses are too sick to be helped, the RCMP will be called in to assist euthanize.

"The responsibility for these animals rests on these owners, or the persons responsible," said Eccles.

"We have to put the onus back on them to get these animals out of distress. If this means they need to be euthanized, so be it. It's more humane than letting them suffer."

An ongoing problem

Animal protection officers say the feral horses have been an ongoing issue for many years, but a harsh winter has made the problem much worse because food sources are scarce.

"This is particularly bad," said Eccles. "And this might just be the tip of the iceberg."

The SPCA has received a number of complaints about malnourished horses across the province, including areas in the Thompson-Caribou and the Okanagan.

In December, volunteers spent almost a week digging a kilometre-long trench through the snow to free two horses abandoned in the snow near McBride in central British Columbia.

The SPCA has recommended cruelty charges against Frank McKay, the Edmonton man who owns the horses.