School animals attacked, lamb stabbed 17 times
San Antonio, TX (US)Incident Date: Sunday, Jan 7, 2007
County: Bexar
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Horacio Favela
The lamb had been stabbed 17 times, hung by its back legs, cut from its neck to its pelvis and left dangling with its organs lying on the floor of a barn at Madison High School last month.
On Feb 27, police charged Horacio Favela, 19, with a felony offense of animal cruelty in the death of the lamb, a prize animal that had been raised by a student at the high school.
Favela also was charged with burglary in the incident. He remained at Bexar County Jail on Wednesday in lieu of a combined $20,000 bond.
A surveillance camera captured three people breaking into the barn on Jan. 7. Witnesses watched the video that day and identified Favela as one of the burglars, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant.
Police arrested Favela, a former student of the high school, on an unrelated warrant the next day. He admitted going to Madison High School with four other people, entering an animal barn and killing a "goat," the affidavit said.
"The animal was actually a lamb," wrote a San Antonio police detective in the document. "I consider the nature of the lamb's death torture, due to it being stabbed (about) 17 times."
Another lamb and a hog also were stabbed.
"They recovered but never came back to show quality," said John Mack, director of the district's agriculture science program.
Mack said he and the students are relieved that someone was charged.
It is a state jail felony in Texas to intentionally or knowingly torture an animal. The maximum punishment for the crime is two years in a state jail and a $10,000 fine.
Favela told police he was butchering the animal for food but fled when he thought someone was coming. He said he didn't know the names of his accomplices, the affidavit said.
The slaughtered show lamb, named Rocky, belonged to Madison High School junior Amanda Morgenroth and was part of the agriculture science program.
Amanda, 16, learned Rocky had been killed the same morning his gutted body was discovered hanging from a grate.
Amanda and her father, Kenneth Morgenroth, were informed of the arrest Wednesday afternoon.
Amanda was in class when she found out. "I was so happy, I actually started crying," she said.
The death of Rocky not only meant losing a beloved animal, but possible scholarship money from this year's San Antonio Junior Livestock Show. "I'm not going to let what happen stop me," she said. "It's just a way to make me stronger."
Of the accused, Morgenroth only heard that, "he was hungry."
"If he's that hungry, go to Stop-N-Go and steal a Twinkie," the father said.
Mack said, "I wouldn't mutilate something before I ate it. It was just a gross act."
Despite the gruesome fate Rocky met, and the extra security added on the farm grounds, Morgenroth said his daughter continued to tend to the other animals she kept at the barn.
"She's a strong young lady," he said of his daughter. "I still think it's pretty sick and pretty sad. It's just flat cruel." References« TX State Animal Cruelty Map
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