Neglect of 7 horses
Yale, OK (US)Incident Date: Monday, May 31, 2004
County: Payne
Disposition: Dismissed
Person of Interest: Twilia Lee Clawson
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
A preliminary hearing has been set for a Yale woman accused of animal cruelty after she allegedly failed to provide food, water and shelter to seven horses.
Twilia Lee Ann Clawson, 33, faces felony animal cruelty charges after she allegedly called the Payne County Sheriff's Office to report a man in Yale would not return her horses.
Her hearing has been set for Jan. 5 at 2:30 p.m.
According to court records, she told police she had dropped off the horses approximately four days prior to making the report and, upon her return to pick them up, the owner of the property where she dropped them off, Patrick Dykes, refused to return the animals.
Deputy Daniel Nack contacted Dykes, who told him he had not given Clawson permission to leave the horses but awoke to find seven horses penned in his front yard.
Dykes said Clawson left no food or water for the horses and had not returned to check on or provide for the animals in four days. He said he refused to return the horses because they were in "very poor shape" when she "dumped them off."
Dykes then showed the deputy the two most-accessible animals.
Nack said a white mare was extremely skinny to the point "that her hip bones were protruding severely."
Dykes told the deputy there were two other horses in the same condition.
Nack stated in the affidavit Dykes had provided water, hay and grass for the horses.
When Nack spoke to Clawson, she said she had been keeping the horses in Pawnee County and the Pawnee County Sheriff's Office had been called once to check the welfare of the animals.
Nack stated he spoke with the Pawnee County office and found the deputy who had responded to check on the horses; he described the same white mare Nack had seen.
Several Yale residents helped care for the animals.
A veterinarian from the Oklahoma State University vet-med hospital visited the animals and advised the white mare be euthanized; Clawson gave permission.
The vet advised the mare's condition was due to starvation and neglect suffered prior to the horses being dropped off at Dykes' residence.
Clawson is free on $5,000 bond.
Case Updates Payne County judge has dismissed an animal-cruelty charge against a Yale woman who was accused of failing to adequately feed and water seven horses, two of which died.
The felony case against Twilia Lee Ann Clawson, 35, was dismissed Friday by Associate District Judge Robert Murphy Jr. because a prosecution witness was unavailable, court records show.
Clawson told the Payne County Sheriff's Office in June 2004 that she had left the seven horses at Patrick Dykes' residence near Yale but that he would not let her have them when she returned four days later, an affidavit said.
Dykes said Clawson did not have permission to dump the horses - which he said he found penned in his yard - and that Clawson left no food and water for them, according to an affidavit.
A nursing mare had to be euthanized, and her colt died soon after, authorities said. | Source: KOTV - June 13, 2006
Update posted on Jun 13, 2006 - 11:19AM |
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