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Case ID: 14351

Classification: Neglect / Abandonment

Animal: horse

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Attorneys/Judges

Judge(s):

Richard Andronici

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Horse neglect
Springfield, NJ (US)

Incident Date: Friday, Aug 8, 2008
County: Union

Disposition: Convicted

Defendants/Suspects:
» Patrick Nelson
» Dennis Cameron

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

Two North Jersey men will be facing charges filed by the SPCA in Springfield Municipal Court tomorrow [Aug 12, 2008] pertaining to supposed animal cruelty.

Patrick Nelson, of Lake Hiawatha and Dennis Cameron, of Piscataway are facing 24 different charges each involving the failure to provide a living creature with proper food at the DMS farm on Arney's Mount Road in the Jobstown section of Springfield.

Case Updates

Two North Jersey men were found guilty in township Municipal Court on Tuesday on charges of animal cruelty but will avoid any jail time.

Horse owner Patrick Nelson of Lake Hiawatha and former associate Dennis Cameron of Piscataway were sentenced to pay numerous fines issued by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals regarding the unsatisfactory care of thoroughbred horses that were kept at the DMS Farm on Arney's Mount Road.

Nelson was found guilty on 12 different charges involving five different horses for a total of $6,318 in fines. The charges were based on visits by the SPCA and the New Jersey Department of Agriculture to the farm on May 12, 2008, and June 23, 2008.

Cameron was found guilty on six charges involving three horses for a total of $2,559 in fines from the May 12 visit. Cameron, a former caretaker for the horses, resigned from his duties prior to the June 23 visit, and Springfield Township Municipal Judge Richard Andronici determined that Cameron would not be associated with the charges filed from the second visit.

Cameron was an associate of Nelson's who cared for the horses up until May 2008. According to Cameron, he is not a paid employee of Nelson's but was promised an inheritance of some of the profits made on breeding the horses and prize money from races.

All 18 charges between the two men were due to the failure to provide proper food and sustenance to living animals. Nelson and Cameron were given 20 days to file for an appeal.

"I can't wait to appeal," Cameron said. "I need this to go to a higher court. In municipal court, it is only one person making the decision. I need a jury. The doctor said in court that these horses were healthy and some of the horses aren't even Nelson's. I don't think this was fair."

Andronici said during his final statement that he felt he gave Nelson and Cameron "every benefit of the doubt" and since the two men had no prior criminal records, he "didn't feel incarceration was necessary."

"The animals are doing better than they were a year ago and I think an effort has been made," Andronici said. "But I feel the efforts were too little, too late. Recommendations were made and they were ignored."

The SPCA first was called out to the DMS Farm in February 2008 when neighbors complained that horses looked sick and thin. Nelson owns and breeds more than 20 horses at the farm, which is owned by Dominick Schina, a Voorhees resident.

The Department of Agriculture advised the SPCA not to file charges after the February visit, but to instead allow Nelson and Cameron to attempt to bring the horses' health up to state standards.

Department of Agriculture veterinarian Sebastian Reist visited the farm more than two months later and found six of the horses were still below state standards. As a result, the SPCA filed more than 40 charges against the two men. Andronici dismissed several of those charges during a prior court hearing in June because many of the horses in question had regained their health, according to tests by the Department of Agriculture.

Nelson said the SPCA has targeted him since he moved the horses to Springfield from a farm in Mount Holly, where he still keeps a few horses.

"To have many horses under the minimal standards, the bare minimum standards of care identified by the Department of Agriculture, is inexcusable, unjustified and against the law," said Theresa Cooper, an investigator for the SPCA who filed the charges.

Nelson said he has trouble getting veterinarians to visit the DMS Farm because of SPCA interference and disagreements with Schina. Nelson said he tried several times to relocate the horses from the farm but Schina placed a lien on the horses, preventing their removal.

"I realized back in March, these horses weren't being taken good care of," said Nelson. "I wanted to move them to a new location but I wasn't allowed by the SPCA and by Dominick. This makes me want to abandon the whole business. With obstacles like this, it just isn't a good business."

Schina, who was present at the sentencing, would not comment.

Source: Philly Burbs - Aug 25, 2009
Update posted on Aug 25, 2009 - 12:40PM

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A court hearing for two North Jersey men facing animal cruelty charges at a township horse farm was postponed yesterday to give the defendants time to obtain a lawyer.

Patrick Nelson, 60, of Lake Hiawatha and Dennis Cameron, 48, of Piscataway were granted three weeks by Municipal Court Judge Richard Andronici to hire a lawyer after originally indicating they would defend themselves.

The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals filed 24 charges against the two men in May alleging the thoroughbreds kept at the DMS Farm on Arney's Mount Road were not being properly fed. A new trial date has not been announced.

"It's disappointing because we were ready to go," SPCA officer Theresa Cooper said after the hearing. "Everything was prepared and we wanted to get started. But the judge granted them extra time and that's the law."

Nelson, who owns more than 20 horses at the farm in Springfield as well as a dozen others at another farm in the county, denied the animals were being underfed.

"These people don't know anything about thoroughbreds," Cameron said outside the court. "We raise these horses to make money off them. Why would we want to hurt them? These horses are fed three times what the government recommends."

Neighbors who live near the DMS Farm have complained about how skinny and sick the horses appear to be.

Cameron, who helps manage the horses, blames their appearance on an outbreak of salmonella at the farm.

"If a horse isn't treated after getting salmonella, it can lose over 300 pounds in three days," Cameron said. "We feed these horses plenty. When the (state) Department of Agriculture came out to see a horse that died at DMS, they split (the horse) open right in the middle of the farm. The other horses probably got sick from the salmonella spreading."

No evidence of salmonella was discovered because veterinarians don't usually test for it when looking for other diseases, Cameron said.

Cooper said Nelson and Came-ron didn't do enough to keep the horses healthy.

"You can feed them all you want but they need to find the underlying problem," she said. "For some reason, these breeders don't think they have to meet the standards and they need to be held responsible."

Source: Burlington County Times - Aug 12, 2008
Update posted on Aug 13, 2008 - 11:43PM

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Horse neglectSpringfield, NJ (US)

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References

Horse neglect
Springfield, NJ (US)