Horse neglect - 12 seized
Tyngsboro, MA (US)Incident Date: Monday, Jan 6, 2003
County: Middlesex
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Dismissed (Conditional)
Case Images: 1 files available
Person of Interest: Paula Miloglav-Recco
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
17 counts of animal cruelty against a Tyngsboro woman accused of allowing 12 horses to become malnourished while she cared for her cancer-stricken husband.
Sgt. Frank Martin of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the charges are being sought against Paula Recco, 48, of 4 Danforth Road, Tyngsboro, in connection with a case in which 12 horses were seized from her farm last month.
Twelve counts accuse Recco of failing to give the horses proper amounts of food, and five counts accuse her of failing to give them necessary sustenance.
The 12 horses, all that were on the farm, were taken by the MSPCA when officers served a search warrant Dec. 23, 2003 and reported that the animals were in varying stages of malnourishment.
A date for the hearing is not available.
She admits some of the horses were underweight, but said they always had a supply of hay and fresh water, which is all a typical horse needs to survive.
The horses typically eat individualized diets of grain and other foods, but Recco stopped those diets because she did not have time to exercise the horses while her husband was ill.
Her husband died from cancer in mid-December, after spending two months in and out of the hospital while battling it. Recco said she fed and watered the horses before and after every trip to be with him in Boston.
Recco said she stopped giving the horses their usual grain because that feed can cause them to get colic or founder if they are not being exercised regularly.
"I didn't deprive them of any sustenance because they always had hay and water in front of them," she said.
She also expressed concern that the award-winning show horses will not be properly cared for while in MSPCA custody. They have been kept at an undisclosed location by the MSPCA since they were seized.
She is concerned that if the horses are being given grain but not exercised enough they could become ill.
"If they're feeding them (grain) they could get founder and colic, both of which are life-threatening and career ending situations," she said.
Recco is already facing four counts of animal cruelty in Lowell District Court in connection with a another case in which four horses were seized from her property in June 2003.
Reports from MSPCA officers in that case say two horses Recco had brought in from Ohio for breeding were malnourished, and that one of them was kept in a stable that was full of urine and manure.
When officers checked back on those horses weeks after they were first inspected, they were even skinnier, according to court records.
Two of Recco's horses were also seized when officers returned to seize the other horses in June 2003, according to court records.
Recco also denies those allegations, and said she was doing her best to care for the horses, which were too skinny when they arrived from Ohio. She said her two horses were skinny because they were trained for performance.
Recco's farm covers 5 1/2 acres in northern Tyngsboro, near the Dunstable town line. She raises and trains the horses full time, and has worked with horses for roughly 40 years.
Case UpdatesPlaced under the eye of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for the next five years for allowing her 16 horses to become malnourished, a Tyngsboro woman walked out of court on Feb 28, 2005 still facing her biggest legal battle.
Paula Miloglav-Recco still doesn't have her horses back, which she has said are worth $250,000.
In Lowell District Court, Miloglav-Recco, 49, of 4 Danforth Road, admitted to sufficient facts to 21 counts of animal neglect after MSPCA officials removed her horses following accusations of mistreatment and near-starvation.
The MSPCA wanted Miloglav-Recco to pay $63,706 in restitution for housing the horses at its Methuen facility, but McGuinness said that's a matter for the civil courts. It was not immediately clear if the MSPCA planned to pursue that course.
"We're exploring and considering all our options," said Peter Gollub, director of law enforcement for the MSPCA, who was not at the court proceeding.
McGuinness suggested MSPCA officials immediately inspect Miloglav-Recco's Tyngsboro barn to ensure the conditions are acceptable before the agency returned the seized horses.
But prosecutor Heidi Gosule said the Tyngsboro woman will have to fight for them in superior court.
"It's ridiculous that they don't just give them back," said defense attorney Richard Ahern. He noted his client is eager to have the MSPCA inspect her farm.
MSPCA officials say some of the horses had no food or water, others had no grain and hadn't been seen by a veterinarian in more than a year. Miloglav-Recco denies any mistreatment of her animals.
She says her horses always had hay and water, but says her husband was dying from cancer at the time of the allegations and that her horses weren't her first priority then.
Her husband, Michael Recco Jr., succumbed to kidney cancer on Dec. 9, 2003, after a four-year battle with the disease, Ahern said. Between October 2003 and her husband's death, Miloglav-Recco, who has no children, spent most of her time with her husband at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
She stopped buying grain for the better part of 2003 and fed her horses a reduced diet of hay and water because the horses were not active, which she admits made the animals slimmer.
MSPCA inspections of her Danforth Farm showed the horses were emaciated, malnourished and several were covered in their own urine and feces, according to prosecutors. In June 2003, the MSPCA seized four horses and in December 2003 removed 12 more. Of the dozen taken in December, all were hundreds of pounds underweight, Gosule said.
Ahern said MSPCA officials showed up to seize her horses Dec. 11, the day of her husband's wake.
Miloglav-Recco recently acquired three new horses, but those animals appear to be well-fed and living in a clean, tidy barn.
Ahern said her new horses are "in fine health" and his client, who has owned horses for 40 years, just wants her other horses returned.
The criminal case was continued without a finding. | Source: Lowell Sun - March 1, 2005
Update posted on Oct 19, 2005 - 12:25AM |
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