Madera
couple face animal cruelty charges
Posted
on Thu, Jul. 07, 2005 - Associated Press
MADERA,
Calif. - Madera County Sheriff's deputies recommended charging two
rural Madera residents with felony animal cruelty after finding
one dog dead and one barely moving after days without food or water.
Investigators recommended the charges to the District Attorney's
Office after finding the dogs on Sunday morning chained in a chicken
coop.
The owners, Irving Manuel Morelos and Maria Elizabeth Castro Gomez,
had left town on Friday for the Fourth of July holiday. Officers
called by neighbors bothered by continuous barking found two empty
bowls and a small container that presumably once held water, said
Madera County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Erica Stuart.
Temperatures reached into the triple digits over the weekend.
By the time the police arrived, they found one dog - Scooby - dead.
He was tied by a chain so short he could barely move, officers said.
The other dog, Peanut, could barely move. He was taken to a shelter
to be treated for dehydration.
Morelos told police he thought there was enough food and water to
last four days.
The
Fresno Bee
(Updated
Wednesday, July 6, 2005, 10:50 AM)
A
Madera couple faces charges of animal cruelty after deputies discovered
one dog dead and a second apparently suffering from dehydration,
the Madera County Sheriff's Department reported.
Deputies
discovered the dogs after neighbors of Irving Manuel Morelos complained
that the dogs were continuously barking and sounded distressed,
sheriff's spokeswoman Erica Stuart said. When deputies Mike Hardin
and Sgt. Patrick Majeski arrived at the home near Arizona and Amador
Streets, they found the two small dogs.
Deputies
notified animal control to take the dead dog away and rescue the
second, Stuart said.
Tuesday
afternoon, Majeski told Morelos and his wife, Maria Elizabeth Castro
Gomez, that they are facing animal cruelty charges, Stuart said.
Dogs
neglected, six seized, Natick, MA
MetroWest Daily News - July 7, 2005.
Three
Saint Bernard puppies seized from a Natick home on July 1 will likely
be put up for adoption, Massachusetts Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals officials said yesterday. The
puppies were three of six dogs seized from an Irving Road home last
Friday after they were found kept in small cages with little or
no food, water or exercise.
Although
he is not sure when the puppies will be available for adoption,
MSPCA Director of Law Enforcement Peter Gollub yesterday said the
agency is already getting calls about the dogs. The
fate of the other Saint Bernards seized last week - two adult males
and an adult female -- remains unclear. "Things
are still being ironed out," Gollub said of the adult dogs.
"There
are still some concerns that we're addressing, and we're currently
working out with the owners of the dogs." Central
among them, he said, is the dogs' living environment.
When
they removed the dogs, animal control officials found two of the
adult dogs and the puppies housed in a small garage, in cramped
cages, living in their own urine and feces. The
stench in the garage was so strong it could be smelled from the
street more than 30 feet away.
"We
are working toward getting the conditions in which the dogs lived
improved," he said."There
are things people do have to provide for animals, like a sanitary
environment and proper food and water. "We're
working with (the owners) to educate them as to what they need to
do.
At
this point, things appear to be proceeding." If
the owners make the required changes, Gollub said, it is even possible
the adult dogs could be returned to them. "We
would like to see what they do and how they do it, and how well
they do it...before we make any commitment," he said. "(But)
that is a possibility."
After
being seized from the home, the dogs were taken to MSPCA facilities
in Boston, where they were examined, cleaned up and given any needed
treatment. Gollub said yesterday he was not aware of any serious
medical problems that required treatment. The dogs were first spotted
on June 29 by firefighters who were called to the Irving Road home
when a fire alarm went off.
Firefighters
notified local Animal Control Officer Keith Tosi, who eventually
called in the MSPCA. Although the dogs' owners do not face any charges
in connection with the incident, Gollub said the MSPCA can still
decide to file charges at a later date. In the short term, he said,
the agency is more interested in making sure the dogs are healthy.
"Our interest is in the welfare of the animals," he said.
Barre,
VA couple pleads guilty to animal cruelty charges
August
11, 2005 Times Argus Staff
BARRE
TOWN – An East Cobble Hill Road couple pleaded no contest Tuesday
to charges they neglected six pet dogs that were seized from their
home in April.
Jason
Blake and Dawn Boyce of Barre Town each pleaded guilty to two counts
of animal cruelty and each received a sentence of one to two years
probation. Neither will be allowed to own or possess a pet for five
years and both have been ordered to perform 100 hours of community
service at a local animal shelter.
Each
will also pay $500 in restitution to the Central Vermont Humane
Society, which housed and fed the pets after the were seized in
April. Four of the dogs have since been placed with new owners,
including two that were emaciated when they arrived at the humane
society, according to shelter director Sherry LeMay.
Two
of the dogs had to be euthanized, she said, for aggressive tendencies
that included biting people and other animals. Nolan said the individual
counts were based on the type of neglect found, namely deprivation
of medical care and tethering in an inhumane or detrimental manner.
"The
state's evidence indicated that for at least the very underweight
dogs, the lack of sufficient food coupled with parasites that went
untreated too long," met the statutory standard for animal
cruelty, Washington County State's Attorney Craig Nolan said.
The
case stems from an investigation launched after repeated complaints
to the Barre Town Selectboard about chronic barking by the dogs,
which were kept tethered outside the defendants' home.
Dog’s
death leads to animal cruelty charges for teen
By
Adam Leech
NEWTON,
NH - The woman whose two horses were confiscated for neglect in
late June is facing animal cruelty charges after police say she
left her 2-year-old yellow Labrador chained to her porch in 90-degree
weather without water or shelter, which resulted in its death.
Heather
Mackenzie, 19, of 20 Crane Crossing Road, was charged with animal
cruelty - a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison
and a $1,200 fine - after police received a call from a neighbor
who said the dog was lying still on the porch and was left outside
on a hot day without water or shelter.
Police
responded and found the dog had died.
Animal
Control Officer Kim Mears said Mackenzie told her the dog hanged
itself with its chain leash when it fell off the porch, but an autopsy
revealed it died from what was basically a heat stroke.
"Its
brain temperature was so high it couldn’t be measured,"
said Mears.
The
dog was chained to a small porch attached to the house, according
to Mears, in the middle of a day when the temperature ranged between
85 and 90 degrees. Mears said the dog was left in direct sunlight
and was barking loudly while Mackenzie was inside.
In
late June, police said they considered charging Mackenzie with animal
cruelty after they found her two horses - a 21-year-old Arabian
mare and a 3-year-old gelding - to both be 200 to 250 pounds underweight
and with a fungus on their back from being out in the rain too long.
"We
didn’t press charges because it was not malicious, just neglect,"
said Mears. "This was definitely malicious. Even a child would
know to bring the dog in ... We’re just not going to allow
it in this town."
Police
Chief Larry Streeter said the autopsy also found bruising on the
dog’s chest. He said the bruises were caused by Mackenzie’s
knee, which she allegedly used to stop the dog from jumping on her
and contributed to the decision to charge her with animal cruelty.
"It
doesn’t happen on two occasions to the same person in that
amount of time without raising some suspicions," said Streeter.
"The information we received in the investigation ... along
with bruising on the chest drew us to the conclusion that there
was obvious abuse."
Police
said the dog was well fed and had all its vaccinations, which indicates
it was generally taken care of.
Mears
said Mackenzie’s grandmother also lives at the home and was
at work the day of the incident. She said the grandmother had no
knowledge that the dog was chained to the porch.
All
of the other animals found in the home, which include a guinea pig,
a ferret and a two gecko lizards, were voluntarily given to Mears
and were healthy, she said. Mears said she advised Mackenzie not
to obtain anymore animals until the charges are resolved in court.
Streeter
said Mackenzie is scheduled for arraignment at Plaistow District
Court on Sept. 19.
The
incident with the horses occurred on June 20 and was also reported
to police by a neighbor. Both horses found new homes and are expected
to make a full recovery.
Arkansas
couple tried for animal cruelty
Thursday,
August 25, 2005
A
Pope County couple accused of animal cruelty was ordered Tuesday
in District Court to forfeit more than 20 of their dogs to animal
shelters in Atkins and London.
Roger
Lewis Ward and Kelly Kendrick were tried after pleading innocent
in July to charges filed against them. In June, sheriff's deputies
located nearly 30 dogs and a dead puppy at the couple's residence
that had reportedly been without food or water for three days.
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