Over at KC Dog Blog Brent Toellner tells a sad tale. Here’s a quick synopsis:
- In December 2008 over 100 dogs are discovered outdoors on a man’s property, with inadequate water and food. There are also dead dogs on the property.
- He is arrested on 96 counts of animal cruelty.
- He is charged with 70 counts of animal cruelty.
- He pleads guilty to 5 counts of animal cruelty. (Fortunately the deflation stops there. Any further and the state would end up owing him more dogs.)
- He is sentenced to 90 days in jail and is ordered to pay $10,000 to the rescue organizations that took in most of his dogs.
So, you don’t have to play for the NFL, at least not in Oklahoma. Oklahoma law allow for a sentence of up to five years for each animal in a cruelty case, so he could have faced 960, 350, or 25 years, depending on which set of charges you want to use. But he was sentenced to 90 days. Really? How about long enough for his TIVO to run out of space?
But wait! There’s more! 5 years ago the same man was forbidden from ever owning dogs again in Kansas! While asking for a national database of animal cruelty convictions is probably beyond the pale at this point, did the Oklahoma judge know this? Did he take it into consideration?
As Brent points out, do we really need more animal cruelty laws? Maybe what we need is people willing to enforce what we have, including putting some teeth in them by actually, you know, punishing people that are cruel to animals?
Just a thought.
A woman I know, whose home I have been in and in whose father’s home I stayed with him while she went OOT w/her daughter has been charged with hoarding and child endangerment. Did I see signs? Yes. Did I want to acknowledge them? No – because she always had a good story though her child was never in school (“home schooled”), she is thin like anorexic thin, but she kept adopting dogs “because they needed homes” and people kept adopting to her! and I did not want to believe what I have now learned – which is far worse than just having too many dogs (like 6, I thought) for her circumstances. What I will now do is listen to and trust my inner voice more carefully. Laws are only as good as they are enforced. So, so sad for these dogs – and for society as this man has had a slap on the wrist.
Mistreatment of animals is often a sign of other problems, like Roberta commented. Communities where human social service agencies work closely with animal welfare agencies probably have the most success in dealing with hoarding, neglect, and animal abuse.
THIS IS DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS GUY NEEDS TO BE JAILED FOR YEARS, NOT 3 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM SOOO ANGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS IS WHY EVERYWHERE,EVERYWHERE NEEDS TO HAVE STRICT,STRICT,STRICT LAWS AGAINST ANIMAL ABUSE AND KILLING, AND THOSE LAWS NEED TO STICK,
NO ANDS IF OR BUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ANIMALS HAVE JUST AS MUCH RIGHTS AS HUMANS, IT’S JUST THAT THEY CAN’T SPEAK UP OR PROTECT THEM SELVES, AND NEED LOVING,CARING,CONSERNED HUMANS TO DO IT FOR THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, forced enforcement…we have laws. There are so many examples of a laissez-faire attitude(and worse) to enforcement from Congressmen who pass the laws, then take contributions to work against those laws for some corporations later outed as the most egregious offenders of whatever. We have judges who don’t care about animal abuse so choose not to take seriously repeat offenders, and we have police who find themselves unable to determine the meaning of abuse and so it continues.
Maybe it’s just the lens I see this through, but it appears enforcement is embroiled in conundrum as the animal welfare sector and supporters struggle to hang on to the gains made in the culture’s sense of the value of the life of an animal.
How long is it going to take to get to the tipping point I wonder to get laws enforced? Who will force the enforcement? What if no tipping point, no mass push for that one goal of enforcement, occurs?
That is so discouraging. I’m so upset that animal cruelty isn’t treated more seriously or enforced more strongly. Tougher enforcement requires time and personnel which means money….why does it seem to always come down to the dollar?
Eric, This is a recurring problem with hoarders. Even when they are caught, and when the animals in their charge are released to shelters or are destroyed, these hoarders tend to start all over again. What they need is help–psychological help. I interviewed a therapist about hoarding behaviors. These folks, as a whole, don’t start off as evil. They just aren’t in control. The animals in their care are never neutered, it’s a big mess. These people should be required to get psychiatric help.
Enforcing existing laws is a first step in breaking the cycle though. Before requiring psychiatric help is even an option, animal cruelty has to be treated a bit more seriously than too many parking tickets.
This is called Plea Bargaining . Often this is the result of the District Attorney wanting to keep a winning record. They accept a guilty plea to a lesser charge in return for not having to take a chance on losing the case and “looking bad”. Thats the real crime.
I have to agree. The best law is only as good as its enforcement. I can’t believe how much this guy was able to get away with!