Iowa Man Arrested For Death Of Starved Dog Found In Crate

“WTF…I’m trying to write whilst tears run down my cheeks…I’m just so sickened by the fact this was done on purpose…the evil that resides in this pig needs destroying…take a good look at him…I pray to God he gets what he deserves!”

On Thursday night, the man believed to be responsible for the starvation and death of a young dog, who was locked in a crate and dumped in Waterloo, Iowa, was arrested.

Ty Alyn Hickman

According to the Quad-City Times, 23-year-old Ty Alyn Hickman was arrested by Jesup police, who received numerous tips on the abuse case from the public.

Maria Tiller, a Waterloo animal control and code enforcement officer, stated:

“Without the help of the public, we never would have got this far,”

A substantial reward was offered for information leading to the arrest of the person behind the despicable crime.

Caleb, described as a Labrador retriever mix, was found back on Feb. 16, locked inside of a feces and urine filled crate. It was evident that the dog has suffered greatly before finally succumbing to starvation.

Hickman is facing up to two years behind bars for the misdemeanor charge of aggravated animal torture.

Read the prior story about this incident here.

News Link:-http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/arrest-made-case-of-animal-cruelty-iowa#slide=59456261

Ty Hickman, 23 was arrested Thursday in Jesup, Iowa and charged with aggravated misdemeanor animal torture according toKwwl.com. The male dog named Caleb was found dead, locked in a kennel and likely starved to death amid his own feces and urine.

Hickman was booked into the Buchanan County Jail by the Jesup Police Department. If found guilty Hickman faces up to two years in prison.

The tragic story of Caleb, a Labrador retriever and Great Dane mixed breed was uncovered on Feb. 16 when his emaciated body was discovered in a pet carrier kennel on the 2700 block of Independence Ave in Waterloo. Authorities believe the dog had already died from dehydration and starvation and then was dumped on the side of the road.

When the story of Caleb hit social media, animal lovers and compassionate friends were so disgusted by such an egregious act of apparent animal cruelty, they joined Agape Fosters and helped to raise $7500 for a reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for this reprehensible deed.

Never underestimate what a community can do when motivated. Local police received many leads which helped lead to the arrest of Hickman and the alleged charges against him.

News Link:-http://www.examiner.com/article/arrest-made-waterloo-animal-cruelty-case-of-dog-left-to-die-locked-kennel

Farmingdale Couple Convicted of Animal Abuse

“I know this beautiful dog passed over Rainbow Bridge in 2010, but it didn’t stop me from shedding a few tears for him. Such a gentle giant, he didn’t deserve to be ill treated, no animal does! Why do people get pets, only to abandoned them when they’ve had enough. Can’t be bothered to walk or play with the dog anymore, CAN’T BE BOTHERED TO FEED THE DAMN DOG either”. R.I.P  Zack x

They could face up to one year in jail on the charge after discovery of their emaciated dog, Zack.

A Farmingdale couple whose Great Dane was found emaciated from neglect has been convicted of animal neglect by a Nassau County Jury.

Rose Neira, 32, and her husband Danny Neira, 41, a New York City police officer, were convicted of misdemeanor animal neglect after being accused of failing to provide food and medical care for their dog, Zack. The jury took just three hours to convict the couple, whose dog weighed just 87 pounds when it was found by authorities.

The animal, despite extensive rehabilitative efforts by veterinarians including surgery, died about a month later.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said the couple faces up to one year in jail. They are due back in court Dec. 11 for sentencing.

“There is no excuse or explanation for this level of cruelty and neglect, and I am shocked that these two people, one of whom is a police officer, did nothing while Zack wasted away in front of their eyes,” Rice said.

The case dates to Nov. 22, 2010, when district attorney investigators and members of the DA’s Animal Crimes Unit went to the Neiras’ home after receiving multiple tips that an animal was being neglected there.

Investigators found a 2-year-old Great Dane named Zack, “grossly emaciated with protruding ribs and its backbone visible through its skin,” Rice said.

When questioned by investigators, Rose Neira initially claimed that the dog’s condition was due to parasites, but she could not provide the name of a veterinarian for the animal, nor could she produce any medication that was being administered to the animal. She stated that she kept the Great Dane in the kitchen, taking it out only once a night, and that she had not sought veterinary treatment for more than a year.

Danny Neira is an officer with the New York Police Department, the district attorney’s office said.

 

Prosecutors obtained a warrant to seize the dog the following day and the Town of Oyster Bay’s Animal Control transported it to Oyster Bay Animal Hospital, where it was treated by a veterinarian for 10 days.

In addition to the dog’s emaciated appearance, its nails were damaged and overgrown and its ear cavities were caked with dirt and grease. Zack’s multiple health issues forced veterinarians to feed him intravenously, authorities said.

A normal, healthy Great Dane should weigh between 120 and 150 pounds. Zack succumbed to multiple health problems on Dec. 1, 2010 while still receiving around-the-clock veterinary care.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Libroia of the Animal Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case for the DA’s Office. The Neiras are represented by Robert DelGrosso.

Numerous reptiles, turtles, birds and fish were also observed living in unsanitary conditions inside the Neira home, many of which were seized by authorities.

Rice issued a thank you to the Town of Oyster Bay, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Suffolk County SPCA for their assistance in this case.

“I strongly encourage anyone who is aware of an animal being abused or neglected to contact my office’s Animal Abuse hotline at (516) 571-ACHL,” Rice said.

Video footage of Zack taken by DA Investigators can be viewed on DA Rice’s YouTube page

News Link:-http://farmingdale.patch.com/articles/farmingdale-couple-convicted-of-animal-abuse

Published on 11 Oct 2012 by NassauCountyDA

Danny and Rose Neira were convicted of neglecting their their Great Dane, Zach. This video was taken by an investigator from District Attorney Kathleen Rice’s Animal Crimes Unit. Though vets tried to save Zach, his organs had deteriorated too much to survive. His visible ribs and vertebrae, unclipped nails, and dirty ears are additional evidence of neglect. DA Rice created the animal crimes unit to protect animals like Zack, but also because those who are cruel to animals often harm people too. To report animal abuse in Nassau County, call the anonymous Animal Crimes Hotline at (516) 680-8624.

 

Fresh horror at zoo where animals were ‘clubbed to death’ as it is revealed they were then ‘fed to Polish park workers’

• Swedish zoo clubbed animals to death in a bid to save on veterinary costs
• Guest workers from Eastern Europe were fed farm animals from the park, killed inside the zoo
• Two lion cubs starved to death in 2011, because staff were not allowed to bottle feed them

A zoo where keepers killed animals using baseball bats and crowbars – in a bid to save on veterinary fees – has now been accused of feeding parts of the dead creatures to Polish guest workers.

Former employees at the park revealed the horrific living conditions of the animals at Ölands Animal and Amusement Park in Sweden earlier this week, but now it seems the atrocious treatment extend to the staff as well.

Employees at the popular tourist attraction were forced to work under ‘slave like’ conditions and were fed goats, hens and even a pig that had been put down at the park.

One worker, identified as Anna, said: ‘Sometimes we would give the animals a small injection afterwards. If there was an inspection no one would notice that they had been put down the wrong way. They often kill goats with a simple knife to the throat.’

Guest workers from Poland and Bulgaria work in the zoo over the summer and live in cramped conditions close to the park, located on the popular tourist island in the Baltic sea.

Animal carer Mats told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet: ‘People say the animals are treated badly, but if they only knew what the situation is like for the employees.

‘The guest staff work under slave-like conditions, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with no entitlement to sick leave or days off. Those who complain have to take the return bus back home.’

Food is included in the contract and Niclas, another former employee, revealed that the guest workers were fed animals that had been put down in the park, giving examples of a goat and hens.

He reveals he once butchered a pig at the zoo to give the workers meat, adding: ‘They were so hungry and hadn’t had any nutritious food for weeks.’

Anna added: ‘They often had to eat monkey food. Old bread and old fruit which had been donated to the park by local grocers on the island, or nearby Kalmar on the mainland.’

The stories from behind the cheery facade of the zoo, which welcomes visitors with a sign of two playing chimpanzees, has horrified and sickened the nation and animal lovers worldwide.

Torture: When the mother of four lion cubs stopped feeding them, two of them starved to death before staff was allowed to bottle feed the other two

On Wednesday Pia Westen, 19, revealed that the park had refused to let carers bottle feed a litter of lion cubs ignored by their mother.

Two of them starved to death before carers were allowed to feed the other two.

Staff were ordered to hide the suffering lion cubs behind tarpaulin sheets, with Westen saying: ‘[Supervisors] didn’t want visitors seeing them lying there, dying. The animal caretakers really wanted to save them but they weren’t allowed until two of them had starved to death.’

Caroline Ryding worked at the park for two months in 2011 and claims she quit her job after witnessing ‘permanent maltreatment of the animals’.

She said: ‘A coati – a Brazilian aardvark – was beaten to death with a baseball bat or a crowbar. And we were told afterwards not to tell the zoo vet.’

Clubbed to death: A Coati – a Brazilian aardvark – was allegedly beaten to death using a baseball bat or a crowbar

‘They had no room for them and couldn’t afford a vet. The owners told us not to say anything because what they did was illegal.‘

Last year the company made a £1.2m profit and the park’s director Barbro Hägg has been given an estimated £2.4m in salary and shares in the past five years.

Zoo spokesman Hans Uhrus claimed the care was of high standard and that the zoo was regularly checked by vets and the County Administration Board.

He said: ‘We always take great care in dealing with our animals. We have regular controls of our business under the animal protection act through inspections. The board has received no complaints regarding the park.’

This claim was backed up by the park’s veterinarian Karl Johan Nordfelt.

He said: ‘As the park’s veterinary surgeon I visit the park at least once a week to see the animals and how they are kept.

‘The animals’ well-being is checked every day by the staff on site and I control how they are kept during my regular visits.

‘I have nothing to comment on regarding the care of the animals in the park.’

The animal park, on the Baltic island of Öland, off Sweden’s east coast, is home to around 650 animals of over 100 different species.

News Link:-: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220100/Horror-zoo-animals-clubbed-death-fed-animals-killed-park-Polish-workers.html#ixzz29yvrkLy9
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Animal rights group contacts accused chicken killer

SALISBURY — A national animal rights organization has sent a letter asking the Delmar man accused of killing almost 70,000 chickens to become a vegetarian as “penance” for his alleged actions.

The group, Mercy for Animals, also sent a Vegetarian Starter Kit with tips and recipes to Joshua D. Shelton, 21, using the Wicomico County Department of Corrections address. The letter is dated Aug. 30.

Shelton allegedly turned off the power to farmer Mark Shockley’s Delmar chickenhouses, which killed nearly 70,000 chickens that became deprived of food, water and cooling fans, according to charging documents. He faces burglary, malicious destruction of property, trespassing and animal cruelty charges.

Shockley, who estimated his total loss at about $25,000, said he doesn’t feel becoming a vegetarian is the solution for Shelton.

“I think, first of all, he should give his life to God, and I’m not a real religious person, but I do believe in God,” Shockley said.

He also said an incident like this shows how going too far with alcohol affects innocent people.

“The boy should pay for this,” Shockley said. “He should have time to sit and think about what he did. And that’s what jail is for.”

Mercy for Animals, which is headquartered in California, found out about the incident through the media, according to Matt Rice, its director of investigations.

Rice said the organization had read that Shelton did feel some remorse about the incident.

“This is the perfect opportunity for Mr. Shelton to prove he means what he says,” Rice said.

Much of the letter goes into what the lives of billions of factory-farmed chickens in the U.S. are like.

Mail sent to inmates is normally from family, friends or attorneys, said WCDC Director George Kaloroumakis.

“This is a first that I’m aware of,” Kaloroumakis said. “But I’m sure it’s not the first time someone who’s incarcerated has received a letter from an organization.”

Kaloroumakis described having a news release sent about the letter sent to an inmate as “something out of the norm.”

As for the incident itself, Shockley said, “It’s been a very bizarre, hard-to-believe, devastating thing for us.”

News Link:-http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20120917/WIC/309170012

To read the letter sent to Joshua Shelton by Mercy for Animals, visitwww.MercyForAnimals.org/MDChickenLetter.pdf

Man allowed one dog to starve to death while another was forced to live off its remains after a MONTH with no food

 

• Shane Maurice Potts left the animals unattended after moving with his children to stay at his mother’s home
• The dogs were left in appalling conditions with a bag of dog biscuits just out of their reach
  

  Grim: A dog owner allowed one of his Jack Russell’s to starve to death. Simba, pictured, only stayed alive after eating the remains of the dead dog. Simba is pictured after being rescued

A dog owner allowed one of his Jack Russell’s to starve to death with another forced to eat its remains after leaving the pair without food for a month. 

Shane Maurice Potts, 29, left the animals unattended after moving with his children to stay at his mother’s home.

The dogs were left in appalling conditions and although there was a bag of dog biscuits on a worktop – it was just out of their reach.

A female called ‘Nala’, eventually starved to death while the other, a male called ‘Simba’, stayed alive by eating her remains,

Appearing at Buxton Magistrates Court yesterday, Potts, from High Peak, Derbyshire, admitted two animal cruelty charges.

The dogs were discovered by RSPCA inspector Lorna Campbell after a call from a concerned member of the public.

She said: ‘When I saw Simba at the window it was obvious he was emaciated and when I looked in I saw what I thought was a toy he’d chewed up.

‘It took a moment before I realised the full horror of what it actually was, the remains of Nala. It was devastating.’

Horrific: Shane Maurice Potts, 29, left the animals unattended after moving with his children to stay at his mother’s home. The scene inside the flat is pictured

The RSPCA had offered advice to Potts in July 2011, given him neutering vouchers and re-homed a third dog which he had at that time but had no complaints since.

The court heard that Potts and his children had moved into his mother’s house in Chapel-en-le-Frith.

He hadn’t been back to his own property for more than four weeks.

RSPCA Inspector Campbell said: ‘That Simba survived is a miracle. When police gained access he raced past us to a bowl of dirty water in the garden with cigarette butts in it and tried to drink from it.

‘The conditions in the house were terrible. The place was covered in faeces and the floor was slippery with urine. 

‘There was a shredded dog food bag on the floor, an empty tub of gravy granules and chewed towels and of course what was left of his companion.

‘Tragically, there was a bag of dog biscuits on the worktop which it looked as though the dogs had been trying to reach but it was just too high.’

Potts’ solicitor told the court he was finding it difficult to manage his responsibilities and had moved in with his mother to help.

He’s due to appear at Buxton Magistrates Court on August 21 for sentencing.

After being signed over to the RSPCA, Simba has recovered and has been happily re-homed.

News Link:-: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2182209/Man-allowed-dog-starve-death-forced-live-remains-MONTH-food.html#ixzz22uE1MnZj

 

Prosecutors say woman starved kittens during break-up with boyfriend

 

“OMG…Don’t ever let that heartless bxxxh have children, what’s she going to do if her partners leaves her….let the baby die of starvation couldn’t she couldn’t be arsed with it? I’ve heard a lot of excuses as to how animals died, but never over an owner who’s broken up with a boyfriend!!  She literally killed them, by leaving them to starve….so she better get a decent charge, not a slap & a fine…she is just an utterly self-centered, heartless & nonchalant POS not fit to breathe the same air as those kittens did!!”

TACOMA, Wash. — Prosecutors say a Pierce County woman allowed her two kittens to starve to death while she was going through a break-up with her boyfriend.

Rachel Dudley, 25,  was charged with two counts of first-degree animal cruelty Thursday.
Prosecutors said the kittens were discovered on March 28 when the apartment manager checked Dudley’s unit after she appeared to have moved out.

The manager called Dudley, who was staying with her mother, and said she would return and take care of the kittens. 

On April 6, the manager checked inside the apartment and found that one of the kittens was dead.  The other was emaciated and staggered when it walked.  

The manager gave the surviving kitten food and water and called Tacoma Animal Control.  The kittens were transported by Animal Control to the Humane Society.

Prosecutors said that a veterinarian who examined the kittens said one kitten had died from chronic starvation and likely suffered considerably before death.

 The live kitten was severely dehydrated and had to be euthanized two days later.

According to authorities, Dudley told animal control officers that she had last been to the apartment on March 6 or 7 and explained she was going through a bad break-up with her boyfriend and didn’t think about the kittens.

When asked how she thought the kittens died, Dudley said, “They probably starved to death,” investigators said.

News Link:–http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/crime-law/prosecutors-say-woman-starved-kittens-during-break/nP4dn/

 

Sexton: Judge gives little penalty to woman for starving dog to death

“OMG…I am enraged about this so called judge Burke (What a fitting name, he is a berk)…letting this women get off, for starving a dog to death! This judge needs to be removed from the legal system, if he can’t see that starving a dog is maliciously & purposefully done, which is animal abuse…he needs to be starved of food & water for 48 hours so he feels 1% of that dogs pain & misery. I so want to be a Judge!! R.I.P Diamond”

In the end, the court proceedings against Angelanetta Gladden — she was charged with felony cruelty to animals — wound up mimicking the death of the dog she was accused of starving to death.

Angelanetta Gladden

They were slow and painful, gruesome and gut-wrenching. And ultimately, the case came to an unfair and unjust end.

Gladden, 33, walked out of the Forsyth Hall of Justice on Tuesday with a mere misdemeanor conviction, with no jail time and no fine imposed — a slap on the wrist administered by a soft-hearted judge.

“I think you know how the state feels, and obviously the court disagreed,” prosecutor Matt Breeding told Judge Todd Burke, who dismissed the felony. “But this goes beyond mere neglect.

“Neglect means you leave a dog outside in a rainstorm while you take a nap or forgetting to change the cat’s litter box. … This was systematic starvation and dehydration of a defenseless animal. It was cruel and malicious and deserves an active sentence.”

Judge Todd Berk (by name & nature)

Ruling things out The case against Gladden began Jan. 10, 2011, when she called Forsyth County Animal Control to report that her dog, Diamond, a black pit bull, had died.

Michael Gainey, the sheriff’s deputy who responded, found an extremely emaciated animal lying dead inside a dog house with no roof. He took photographs, wrote up a report that included Gladden’s statement that neighborhood kids might have been feeding candy and chips to Diamond and gathered up the corpse for a forensic exam.

That process took about 10 days, a fact seized upon by defense attorney Stephanie Goldsborough, who asked Gainey why he didn’t charge Gladden immediately. Goldsborough also said her client knew something was wrong with the dog and gave her worming medication but lacked the expertise to know exactly what was wrong.

Gladden was initially cited for misdemeanor cruelty to animals; a grand jury indicted her on the more serious felony in September after Breeding learned about the case.

“I’m not an irrational person,” Gainey testified. “If it was this serious, I didn’t want to charge her when I didn’t fully understand (the cause of death).”

In other words, he wanted to have a veterinarian conduct a necropsy to make sure the dog didn’t die of worms, parasites or another disease.

What the vet found — and what was repeated in court — was that Diamond was so severely malnourished and dehydrated that she began to digest the lining of her stomach and bone marrow tissue.

That doesn’t happen overnight; the process could take several days, if not weeks.

“I ruled out just about everything I could think of. … In my opinion, the animal died of starvation,” testified Dr. Darrell Rector of the N.C. Department of Agriculture.

Soft sentence While gruesome, the testimony offered was also straightforward. The case turned, in the judge’s view, on whether Diamond’s death was malicious.

Goldsborough made a motion asking Burke to toss out the felony. “There may be an argument that there was some neglect but not maliciousness,” she said.

Breeding countered by reading a legal definition of the felony cruelty to animals charge, which includes the phrase “condition of mind that can prompt a person to inflict or allow seriously bodily harm without excuse or just cause” to describe malice.

“We don’t have a device in the defendant’s head that can determine the level of hatred, spite or ill will,” he said. “Surely at some point she looked out the window and saw the dog starving. The state contends she did nothing, and that’s malice.”

Burke disagreed. He chucked the felony, said he credited Gladden for calling animal control herself, then started leaning on Gladden to make up her mind about whether to plead guilty to the misdemeanor. He even told her he was not going to send her to jail.

“You’ve had I don’t know how many months to think about this,” he said. “You take this plea, or we can proceed to trial (on the misdemeanor).”

After dithering and consulting with supporters in the courtroom, Gladden took the deal. Then Burke sweetened it even more than promised: a suspended sentence with no jail time (Breeding asked for the maximum 45 days for the misdemeanor), three years of unsupervised probation, and waived fines and court costs. Gladden’s lawyer said she didn’t have anything to say to this columnist.

Oh, Burke did impose one small thing that could be construed as punishment: Gladden isn’t allowed to own another pet until and unless she does 24 hours of volunteer work at the Humane Society.

Too little, too late for a dog named Diamond who died a painful, lonely death in a dilapidated dog house.

News Link:-http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2012/jun/27/7/sexton-judge-gives-no-penalty-to-woman-for-starvin-ar-2390393/

Arkansas Man Charged in Equine Cruelty Case

An Arkansas man is facing felony cruelty charges for allegedly tying a horse to a tree for weeks without access to food or water.

Miller County Sheriff’s Dept. Chief Deputy Duke Schofield said that law enforcement personnel discovered the bones and hide of the animal after a tipster reported finding the horse’s remains last week.

“It was obvious that the horse had been tied to the tree because of the path worn on the ground around the tree,” Schofield said. “It’s more likely that the horse died of thirst before it starved.”

Police subsequently arrested Cal Jones, of Mandeville, in connection with the horse’s death, Schofield said. Jones is charged with one count of Class D felony animal cruelty and, if convicted, he could face penalties including up to 10 years in jail, Schofield said.

Jones remains in jail in lieu of bond. He was unavailable for comment.

Another horse owned by Jones is under a relative’s care, Schofield said, and sheriff’s department personnel are monitoring that animal’s care.

http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=19973