Horse neglect Interlachen, FL (US) Incident Date: Thursday, Jul 1, 2004 County: Putnam Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Alleged: Christina Dague

Case ID: 2766 Classification: Neglect / Abandonment Animal: horse View more cases in FL (US) Suspect was in animal welfare field Login to Watch this Case

An Interlachen woman who was arrested and charged with eight counts of animal cruelty on July 1, has been charged with four more counts of animal cruelty, the Putnam County Sheriff's Office reported this week.

The woman said Friday (Sept 25, 2004) she plans to sue the sheriff's office and people who filed complaints about her with the sheriff's office.

Christina Dague, 28, was arrested as Christina Derosiers on July 1 when the sheriff's office seized seven horses and one pony, citing that the animals were emaciated and there was no food or water in sight. The sheriff's office also seized 15 dogs at that time and affadavits were forwarded to the state attorney's office. Dague was also arrested and charged with one count of resisting arrest with violence and one count of resisting arrest without violence at that time. Those charges were forwarded to the state attorney's office.

"I am going to talk to an attorney in St. Augustine to deal with civil and criminal matters," Dague said Friday. "I also plan to take civil action against the people who filed complaints against me."

"That's her right as a citizen � she can sue if she wants," sheriff's Capt. Dwight Parker, who oversees the office's animal control unit, said Friday. 
 
The horses seized on July 1 were returned to Dague on Aug. 21 because the sheriff's office had mistakenly not obtained a search warrant, Parker said. But he said his office received several anonymous complaints and three from witnesses who signed affavidavits since the horses were returned.

Based on those complaints, Parker said he obtained a search warrant from Circuit Judge Elizabeth A. Morris on Sept. 17. On Tuesday of this week, Parker led a team that included a veterinarian and other members of the animal control unit and seized the four horses remaining from the original eight.

Dague acknowledged that she was in possession of only four of the eight horses seized in July.

Dague said three of the horses had died, one of pneumonia and two during Hurricane Frances � "one of them had a tree fall on it and the other was a 35-year-old mare that had a heart attack." The fourth, she said, was sold to a Melrose woman.

The horses were seized from a residence which the sheriff's office reported as belonging to Dague's grandmother's. Parker said the horses have been taken to an undisclosed location.
 
Parker said the horses had been returned to Dague in August "by civil means."

"After receiving three complaints from three different people and several anonymous calls, we presented that to a judge, who signed a search warrant for us to investigate the condition of the animals on the property," Parker said. "When we saw how bad of shape they were in, we seized the animals."

He said he saw what appeared to be two horse graves nearby.

Earlier in the week, Dague and her mother, lawyer Jean Moyer, had referred questions about the incident to Dague's attorney, Robert Fields.

"Without seeing the report, it would be irresponsible (for me) to comment," Fields said by cell phone from St. Augustine on Friday afternoon.

A little while later, Dague called the Palatka Daily News to levy several complaints against the sheriff's offices and others involved in the case.

Dague, who said she runs a horse rescue, said there were no warrants for the first seizure of the animals and that led to the sheriff's office getting "illegal evidence that they used this time."

She alleged that the horses came back in worse condition than when they were seized in July; that animal control officers had hit her young son "in the head with a lead rope because he tried to stop them from taking his miniature horse" during the July seizure; that the horses had pre-existing health problems before she orginally took possession of them; and that the sheriff's office had refused to transport the horses back to her property in August, causing her undue expense.

Dague disputed that there was no food or water for the animals. One of her complaints was that "both times they came at feeding time."

Concerning litigation, Fields said, "I do not represent them in any civil suit."

Neighborhood Map

For more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.

Back to Top

Add this case to:

Del.icio.us

|

Digg

|

Furl

|

References

Palatka Daily News - Sept 25, 2004

« FL State Animal Cruelty Map

Not sure what these icons mean? Click here.

Note: Classifications and other fields should not be used to determine what specific charges the suspect is facing or was convicted of - they are for research and statistical purposes only. The case report and subsequent updates outline the specific charges. Charges referenced in the original case report may be modified throughout the course of the investigation or trial, so case updates, when available, should always be considered the most accurate reflection of charges.

For more information regarding classifications and usage of this database, please visit the database notes and disclaimer.