Better to turn them loose and let them forage, than to keep them penned up, as I assume they were. Of course, there is so much snow out there, especially N. of town, the foraging would be tough. In an ideal world, people would not have 15 horses if they could not afford to buy hay. You have to realize that if you are going to be in that situation, you have to get your animals looked after. It would be far more humane to sell them for meat than to let them starve.
metalman.

...probably ran out hay after donating it all to save the elk...

"the SPCA has been working on this case since January"

That is likely around 2 months. So this likely started before the elk situation. In addition, at that time there was considerably less snow in the fields so they probably should have been able to forage.

Based on a complaint, the commencement of too little food to eat would likely have even gone into December 2010.

If this 'farm north of town' is the one I am thinking of ( I have no way of knowing for sure )
then the owner was letting the horses run free last fall. His place does not have a lot of fenced pasture, and they do not harvest any hay, despite that they have quite a few horses, so I assumed that when he said: "aw shucks, they got out again" it was code for
"there is a lot of 'free' forage pasture in this area" (aka: other people's hayfields) and if they fend for themselves all is well" I would add: 'if the horses don't collide with an automobile, and if the neighbors don't mind, all is well'
metalman.

What will the coyotes eat now that the horses are being looked after,
Cheers

I wonder if they are absentee owners from Edmonton?