Attorneys/Judges
| Prosecutor(s): | Jacob Skouby | | Judge(s): | Greg Stremel |
CONVICTED: Was justice served?
more information on voting
When you vote, you are voting on whether or not the punishment fit the crime, NOT on the severity of the case itself. If you feel the sentence was very weak, you would vote 1 star. If you feel the sentence was very strong, you would vote 5 stars.
Please vote honestly and realistically. These ratings will be used a a tool for many future programs, including a "People’s Choice" of best and worst sentencing, DA and judge "report cards", and more. Try to resist the temptation to vote 1 star on every case, even if you feel that 100 years in prison isn’t enough.
Case #15275 Rating: 1.0 out of 5
208 neglected dogs and one emaciated tiger seized
Seneca, MO (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Feb 19, 2009
County: Newton
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Margaret J. Bond
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
The operator of a rural Seneca kennel with a history of violating state and federal animal welfare regulations now faces local charges of animal abuse.
Margaret J. "Jewel" Bond, 66, was charged Friday with two counts of animal abuse on Friday. On Thursday, authorities seized 208 dogs, a house cat and a Bengal tiger allegedly suffering from a lack of water, unsanitary conditions and poor health care.
Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland confirmed that officers found the carcasses of two puppies inside the cage of the tiger that Bond kept as a pet.
"It didn't appear like there was any place an animal could crawl into the cage," Copeland said, raising questions about whether Bond fed the animals to the tiger. "She claimed she fed it dead chickens."
Probable-cause affidavits accompanying the criminal complaint allege authorities also found the skeletal remains of puppies and adult dogs in dog-food bags behind one of the buildings on the kennel compound.
One of the counts of animal abuse covers all 208 dogs that were found by authorities, said Newton County Prosecutor Jacob Skouby.
Logistically, he said, it would be difficult to file and then prosecute hundreds of individual counts for each dog. He did say his office might break the one charge into separate counts later.
The second animal-abuse charge stems from the alleged neglect of the tiger, which weighed less than half of what it should have, according to a Joplin veterinarian.
"The tiger had ribs that were visible showing through the skin," William Pike, of the Newton County Sheriff's Department, wrote in the probable-cause affidavit. "The tiger's hair had mud and feces in it."
Copeland said the Newton County Sheriff's Department obtained a search warrant for Bond's kennel, at 12250 Highway 43, after receiving complaints from the public.
Bond was supposed to have ceased operations in late 2007 per an agreement with the state Department of Agriculture, which did not press for charges against her after she voluntarily relinquished ownership of about 150 dogs and surrendered her state license.
But problems at the kennel had been found years earlier by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which also licensed Bond and filed a complaint against her in August 2004 alleging that she "willfully" violated a host of provisions of the Animal Welfare Act the previous year.
Case UpdatesA rural Seneca woman charged with animal neglect has been assessed two years of probation but will face new restrictions on her animal ownership, according to the Newton County prosecutor's office.
Margaret J. "Jewel" Bond, 66, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of animal abuse after neglecting more than 200 dogs and a pet tiger in her care earlier this year. Bond had entered an Alford plea -- admitting no guilt but acknowledging the likelihood of a conviction before a jury -- to both counts before being sentenced this week by Associate Judge Greg Stremel.
Under a plea agreement, she will not be able to own any exotic animals at all and will not be able to own more than four animals of any other kind over the next two years, Newton County Prosecutor Jacob Skouby said Wednesday.
Skouby acknowledged the animal-ownership restrictions would apply only so long as the probation lasts, although he said the two years was the maximum length allowed by the law.
As for the plea agreement, he said he considered Bond's age as well as the fact that he did not think her neglect was intentional.
"I thought I was dealing with someone who was overwhelmed" by the kennel operations, Skouby said. "My main concern was that she should not be in the kennel business."
No one was at home Wednesday afternoon at Bond's home and kennel complex at 12250 Highway 43. Efforts to reach her by phone also were unsuccessful.
Newton County authorities seized 208 dogs, one cat and one tiger from Bond's compound in February on suspicion the animals were suffering from a lack of water, unsanitary conditions and poor health care. She was later stripped of custody of the animals by Circuit Judge Tim Perigo, after she was unable to post a bond for their care while the Humane Society of Missouri looked after them.
"Sir, I have no money," she told Perigo during that hearing.
Even before charges were filed this year, Bond had amassed a number of violations of state and federal animal welfare regulations in preceding years.
Bond was supposed to have ceased operations in late 2007 per an agreement with the state Department of Agriculture, which did not press for charges against her after she voluntarily relinquished ownership of about 150 dogs and surrendered her state license. The state license is needed for breeders who sell not only to other businesses but also to individuals.
Asked about assurances that Bond would not defy the probation terms, Skouby said: "I think she understands what is expected of her."
Skouby also said Bond's previous violations, dealt with by state and federal agriculture departments, never extended to criminal charges. Now, by pleading guilty to the two misdemeanor charges, Bond would face felony charges if she re-offends even after her probation expires.
Bond's pet tiger, Sheena, was turned over to the National Tiger Sanctuary in Bloomsdale, Mo., several weeks after the raid by Newton County authorities. The tiger, malnourished and underweight when removed from Bond's home, has staged a recovery since.
As for the dogs and the cat, almost 90 percent were adopted out by the Humane Society of Missouri. The remainder either died on their own from illness or were euthanized because of illness.
Before entering an Alford plea this week, Margaret "Jewel" Bond was scheduled to go to trial Oct. 1. | Source: The Joplin Globe - Sept 24, 2009
Update posted on Sep 28, 2009 - 12:20PM |
The more than 200 dogs that were taken from JB's Precious Puppies, located north of Seneca, are now in the hands of the Humane Society of Missouri -- St. Louis.
"They are doing well, now," said Cyndi Nason, director of adoption services for the humane society. "We have got them all situated in pens and we are getting them all cleaned up. We are getting medical treatments started â€" many of them had eye infections, ear infections, internal parasites, external parasites, there were lots of long overgrown nails, we think we had some ringworm. A lot of medial treatment is going to be needed."
According to Nason, the dogs seized included all sizes, but primarily three-quarters of them were small- to medium-sized dogs. Large dogs included mainly chows and huskies.
The dogs will be under the care of the humane society until the disposion hearing, which, according to Nason, is set for March 9 in Newton County.
"So once that hearing is over and if we get the animals, then we will begin to move forward on determining adoptability," she said. "And by that time, a lot of the common health issues like infections and things should be clearing up with the antibiotics. ...We really want to place healthy, friendly animals. All of the time with large commercial breeders, we see some behavior problems. Those include fearfulness, sometimes there are some aggressive behaviors, and housebreaking can be a major issue for new owners, because they don't know any better. They have lived their lives in a pen and their natural instinct to keep clean and keep their sleeping and living area clean, is gone. You have to work harder than with most dogs to get them into that habit again, especially with the smaller dogs: They have small bladders, anyway. People who are interested in adopting dogs from large commercial breeders really need to know that these are not well-bred, well-socialized animals."
The cost of sheltering and caring for the dogs has not yet been determined.
"It is so dependent on what is wrong with each animal, and the numbers," Nason said. "At some point here in the future, we will have that, once we collect all of that data. But I imagine the rescue of this size is going to cost us hundreds of thousands, by the time you consider all of the man power time, all of the medications, all of the lab work and X-rays that we are going to have to do and the surgeries."
Nason said although 209 dogs, a tiger and a housecat were seized, this was not the largest seizure of animals in recent memory.
"In the last couple of years, we have really picked up a lot of cases," she said. "We had one, which was our biggest a while ago, and it was over 300. When you get into the 200 range, it is certainly big and then we had it on the heels of our Feb. 13 rescue of almost 100 Yorkshire terriers from another breeder."
Nason said that shortly after the animal rescue, she received one phone call about a missing dog.
"I had a call from a lady who had a Yorkie-poo, and I am certainly going to check it out," she said. "But even if dogs at this point belong to an individual, we would not be able to address any of those issues until the animals are, hopefully, given to us by the court. So until the court tells us they belong to the humane society, we can't address any of those issues, but we certainly take the information down and we will look into that. If people have pictures, they can gather information that will help to prove an animal belonged to them. We always want to get animals back to their rightful, loving owners."
The humane society is also looking for donations, including blankets, towels, newspapers, single-cut shredded paper and money. For more information, visit their Web site at www.hsmo.org.
Their address is Humane Society of Missouri Headquarters Adoption Center, 1201 Macklind Ave., St. Louis, Mo. 63110. Report Animal Abuse: 314-647-4400. Donations: 314-951-1542. | Source: Neosho Daily News - Feb 21, 2009
Update posted on Feb 23, 2009 - 4:39PM |
References« Back to Search Results
« MO State Animal Cruelty Map
« More cases in Newton County, MO
|
