Intentional abandonment and neglect of horses
Merrillville, IN (US)Incident Date: Monday, Apr 1, 2002
County: Lake
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Arnold Dewell
Farm owner Dewell was charged with a misdemeanor for intentionally abandoning and neglecting his horses.
Inspectors found a dozen underfed and unsheltered horses at Dewell's farm near 97th Avenue and Clay St. One horse was so sick it had to be euthanized.
Betty Clayton who has worked as an animal cruelty investigator for more than 13 years wants town officials to adopt a more thorough animal care ordinance. The Lake County deputy sheriff with the Animal Protective Services Unit wants an ordinance that would allow code enforcement officers to ticket people for denying their pets proper food, water, shelter, sanitation and medical care. Town code currently requires people to keep their premises clean, which in turn requires pets to be kept in a sanitary place. It also prevents people from allowing their pets to "run at large" or create a nuisance by "continued barking". Tickets charges for 1st time offenders are $50.00, for multiple offenders they must pay $100. The code does not allow the ACO's to ticket people for intentionally abandoning or neglecting an animal. Those kinds of charges must go to the Lake County Courts.
Clayton was successful in getting the misdemeanor charges filed against Dewell because of the farm conditions were extreme. References
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