The woman convicted in September of 17 of 19 counts of animal cruelty in Adams County Court for neglecting her horses will spend more than five months in jail.
Rose Marie Arthur, 42, was sentenced on the animal cruelty charges as well as not having the animal health certificates to transport her 19 horses from Kansas to Nebraska.
Prosecutors said the horses were found starving and near death at a ranch near Holstein in January. The neglect allegedly occurred from Oct. 1, 2003, through Jan. 29.
Authorities had said the animals likely were being fed daily, but the weren't being fed enough.
Arthur was also ordered to pay $453 a month for five years in restitution to the county, which has been taking care of the horses. Case UpdatesHorses held as evidence in an animal cruelty case in Adams County can enter foster care to help control the county's expenses.
The 17 horses have been in the county's custody since 2004, after owner Rose Marie Arthur was convicted of 17 counts of cruel neglect and 19 counts of failing to obtain health certificates for the horses.
The horses' care has been costly: $49,970 for daily, routine care and $3,121 in veterinarian bills, said Adams County Sheriff Gregg Magee.
The foster care will cut the burden on the county, Magee said, but the county will retain custody until the case is resolved.
Donna Fegler Daiss, county attorney, said the county Board of Supervisors has been interested in the foster care option.
"These are just individuals willing to take care of the horses for us," she said. "We're still responsible for medical care; we're just not responsible with regard to food and shelter."
Foster homes for the horses won't be limited to people in Adams County, Magee said, but distance is a factor, because his office will need to check on them.
Magee said his office had many calls from people interested in adopting the horses, and he hopes that some will consider foster care instead.
After the county case against Arthur was resolved, the county took custody of 17 of the horses. Arthur appealed the verdict, but a district judge upheld it and ruled that the horses could not be sold until the appeal process is finished.
Arthur filed an appeal to the Nebraska Court of Appeals in August.
If the conviction is upheld, the horses will be sold at auction, said Fegler Daiss, the county attorney.
She also said the county may agree to reimburse the foster care providers. | Source: Scottsbluff Star Herald - Oct 21, 2005
Update posted on Oct 21, 2005 - 5:59PM |
Adams County has been spending about $40 a day caring for a herd of neglected horses. Now, it wants the woman accused of harming them to reimburse the county for their care or be allowed to sell the horses.
The County Attorney's Office made that request to the district court. It wants the court to either order the woman to post a bond high enough to reimburse the county for the horses' care or issue an order allowing the county to sell the animals.
Rose Marie Arthur was sentenced in November to more than five months in jail for animal cruelty and not having the animal health certificates to transport the 19 horses from Kansas to Nebraska.
Prosecutors said the horses were found starving and near death at a ranch near Holstein in January. The neglect occurred from Oct. 1, 2003, through Jan. 29, prosecutors said.
Arthur was ordered at her sentencing to pay more than $450 a month for five years - totaling $26,295 - to cover the county's expenses. But Adams County Attorney Donna Fegler Daiss says its unlikely Arthur will be able to make the payments.
Arthur told the judge at her sentencing that she was making less than $7 per hour and her husband was unemployed, Fegler Daiss said | Source: Omaha World Herald - Dec 17, 2004
Update posted on Dec 18, 2004 - 8:03PM |
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