CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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5 dogs found neglected
Jonesboro, AR (US)Incident Date: Saturday, Jun 11, 2011
County: Craighead
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Talya Anderson
Earlier this month five dogs were found in Jonesboro suffering from multiple injuries, a lack of clean drinking water and exposure to the heat.
A concerned neighbor contacted Wannda Turner with Northeast Arkansans for Animals. Turner, along with another NAFA member and a Jonesboro Animal Control officer, removed the five dogs from their pens.
According to court records, the owner of the animals was out of town at the time. He was said to have left the animals' care to his friend Talya Anderson. He will not be charged.
Anderson was charged with five misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. Anderson told Region 8 News she was also charged with two counts of not having rabies tags. According to Anderson, she pleaded "no contest" to the charges and was fined $335 for each count. She was also ordered to complete a total of 120 hours of community service.
"When we got there we could actually hear fighting going on inside the privacy fence," said NAFA Director Wannda Turner
Turner describes what she found when she arrived at a house where a case of animal abuse was reported.
"One particular dog in this yard and there were five Doberman Pinchers in this yard, but one particular dog was being beat up continuously by the other dogs," said Turner.
She said it appeared the fighting had been going on for several days.
"He had gashes on his side, gashes on his underside. His neck had puncture wounds, both back legs and one front leg had puncture wounds," said Turner.
The dog was removed from the yard and taken to a veterinarian.
"The conditions of the dogs were what I consider to be neglectful. Neighbors indicated that the owners of the dogs had been out of town and they had not seen anybody for at least two days," said Turner.
"There was no malice she didn't intentionally set out to hurt the dogs," said Turner.
Sgt. Larry Rogers said according to the law the animal has to have wholesome food and clean water at all times and if that is not provided you can get into legal trouble even if that animal is not yours.
"If you take possession of an animal you say that you agree to be responsible then you are the person who is responsible at that time," said Rogers.
According to the City Attorney's office, Anderson was ordered to pay $335 dollars for each of the four counts she was found guilty of and was sentenced to a total of 120 hours of community service. References |
