A horse that was rescued has died after being fed a carrot by a visitor at an animal shelter.

Amarah the horse died after choking on a carrot and suffering a heart attack from the stressful event.

Suzanne Gibbons, founder of Animal Haven in Kerry told her Facebook followers that visitors to the shelter “bring donations of supplies, they adopt and they come to see if they can help. We welcome everyone.

“We have signs up to not feed the animals or enter their areas without permission or a staff member. One of the visitors decided to hand her in a carrot going against our signs to not feed any animal.

“it got stuck in her throat… the stress caused a heart attack and we lost our girl.

“Your action took my girl I loved more than life.”

Amarah was rescued and brought to Animal Haven Ireland animal shelter when she was discovered emaciated and starving.

The 11 year old horse was born and reared in France as a trotter and was shipped to Ireland “at some point.”

Suzanne said that when they discovered her, she was “just a bag of bones but the kindest nature you ever met.”

She said: ''I have cried so hard I’ve made myself sick. First upset and then angry. So angry.

“Our life together has been ripped away… I didn’t go to work today. My team stepped in for me.

“I’m too broken. I can’t stop crying. The pain is unbearable.”