102 animals seized
New Philadelphia, OH (US)

Incident Date: Friday, Jul 15, 2011
County: Tuscarawas

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Deborah Brown

A New Philadelphia-area woman will be arraigned in New Philadelphia Municipal Court at 1 p.m. today on 10 counts of animal cruelty - allegations of various types of cruelty imposed upon 102 animals seized by the Tuscarawas County Humane Society on July 15.

The charges against Deborah Brown, of 3386 Henderson School Road NE, range from not providing sufficient food or water to "negligently torture," torment, "needlessly mutilate or maim," "cruelly beat," and/or poison dogs, goats and horses.

The charges also state that Brown kept 82 rabbits in enclosures "without wholesome exercise and change of air." All of the charges are alleged to occur June 1 through July 15.

Brown on Wednesday denied each and every allegation, filed by Steven Bush, the county's humane officer, and said she will plead not guilty to all.

"I'm not guilty," she said. "Why would I hurt my animals when my only income is from my animals? Farming is all we do for a living. We have to take care of everything."

Bush sees a totally different situation and said he has documented the allegations with photos and video.

He said he made an initial visit to Brown's farm June 1 because he had received a complaint that she had a dog with its "collar growing into the dog's neck."

On the day he went to see it, Bush said Brown wouldn't show him the dog, but he saw other dogs tied up with short leashes, and with no food or water.

Brown, he added, told him to get off the property and get a search warrant.

"I told him he needed a warrant because of the history that we have had together," Brown told The Times-Reporter, referring to the 10 counts of animal cruelty filed against her in 1998.

Brown was convicted of "torturing" 10 of her meat and breeding rabbits during a Municipal Court trial in 1999, although one juror told The Times-Reporter afterward that key to the jury's verdict was that Brown neglected the overall care of her rabbits.

She was sentenced in August 1999 to 30 days jail, with the sentence suspended in lieu of a one-year probationary term and a $100 fine.

Brown said Wednesday that Bush became angry when she told him to get a warrant, and added that he threatened to financially ruin her if he had to come back with a warrant.

"I never said I would ruin her financially," Bush said in a telephone interview. "I said I could come back with the health department because the place was a wreck ... I showed her the utmost respect - she refused to talk to me."

Bush said most of that conversation is on videotape, as are the seizure operations conducted on July 15. He said conditions at the Brown farm were so bad, "we had volunteers who were honestly puking."

"We're not in the business to take animals," Bush continued. "We just want to make sure they are taken care of properly."

Bush added that the Humane Society could use more volunteers, and because it is a non-profit organization, the seizure of Brown's animals has put the society under a strain.

Of the 82 rabbits, 18 dogs, eight goats and two horses taken from the farm, Bush said two or three rabbits have died. He said the two horses are blind and suffer from respiratory problems. Two of the goats, he added, were walking on their knees because of leg problems.

Bush said Humane Society volunteers, accompanied by a veterinarian, didn't take any animals "unless we thought they were immediate danger."

Some of the dogs were housed temporarily at the county fairgrounds in Dover, but have since been placed in foster homes. Other seized animals are being housed at the Humane Society shelter on Dover-Zoar Road.

Brown said she had been medicating the two horses that were taken, and described the seizure operations - conducted on a hot summer day - as somewhat inhumane.

"They started at 8:30 a.m., before we started doing any of the chores," she said, adding that the dogs were put in kennels and left to sit all day.

The rabbits, Brown said, were put in cardboard boxes and placed in a horse trailer left in the sun. "My son pleaded with the (sheriff's deputy) to let him water them at 12:30, because nobody had thought enough of the animals to even give them a drink," she said.

Her son's request was granted, Brown said, after a deputy consulted with Bush.

References

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