Sheep dragged, beaten and stabbed
Milford, MA (US)Incident Date: Saturday, Apr 9, 2005
County: Worcester
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged:
» Maria Pizha-Tacuri
» Rosa Pizha
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
Police are investigating a case of possible animal cruelty after Cemetery Street neighbors said they saw a sheep being dragging by the neck, beaten and stabbed like a "pinata."
Police found the sheep breathing heavily and cowering in the bushes on Cemetery Street after receiving the call at 2:38 p.m. Saturday (April 9, 2005) from a resident of neighboring Blaire House.
According to police reports, when Officer Joseph Shuras Jr. arrived, he was met at the home where the sheep was found by a woman and two young boys. They did not speak English. The report also said he found a sheep tied up in a distressed state.
Blaire House witnesses said they saw the animal being dragged around while tied up and beaten with sticks in an attempt to break the sheep's neck.
Officer Carlos Sousa acted as an interpreter, speaking by phone with the woman at the home where the sheep was found tied up. The report said she told Sousa she and the boys "were using the animal as a 'pinata' and had later planned to stab the animal to death with a knife to eat."
The sheep was taken by animal control to an undisclosed location, according to the report.
Shuras and Sousa, as interpreter, will continue the investigation.
Case UpdatesOver objections from several groups, two Ecuadoran women who beat and hog-tied a sheep will avoid jail time under a plea agreement approved yesterday.
Maria Pizha-Tacuri, 39, and her daughter Rosa Pizha, 20, of 2 Cemetery St., Milford, each admitted sufficient facts to an animal cruelty charge in Worcester District Court.
After hearing proposed sentences, Judge Sarkis Teshoian approved a penalty closer to the defense attorneys' suggestion.
Teshoian continued the charges without a finding for 11 months and imposed a sentence that includes supervised probation and 40 hours community service with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) or another animal rights group, said Elizabeth Stammo, a spokesman for Worcester District Attorney John Conte.
The charges will be dismissed if the two women meet all the probation conditions.
Defense attorneys Richard Eustis and David Schulman wanted Teshoian to continue the charges without a finding and have their clients serve nine months administrative probation.
Conte's office had proposed the pair plead guilty and receive a 2 1/2-year sentence in the House of Correction, with six months to be served, Stammo said. They would have spent the remaining time on probation and also performed 40 hours community service.
The two were arrested in April after staffers at the nearby Blaire House reported the women had hog-tied the sheep outside their Cemetery Street home, then dragged and beat it with sticks.
Pizha-Tacuri said she was using the "animal as a pinata and later planned to stab the animal to death with a knife to eat," police said.
The case drew a strong public outcry, including from the Virginia-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The group, which had asked Conte to push for jail time, was disappointed with yesterday's result.
"We commend the prosecution for asking what was rightfully deserved," said Martin Mersereau, manager of PETA's domestic animal abuse department at the organization's Norfolk, Va., headquarters. "Appallingly, this is another shining example of the judiciary failing the public it's been sworn to serve."
Defense attorney Schulman said the case "could be epitomized as a clash of cultures," and that the women had no malicious intent toward the animal.
"We just felt that the commonwealth's proposal was outrageous," Schulman said. "These two women had no criminal record, and they had the equivalent of a first- or second-grade education -- that's by Ecuadoran standards, not by our standards, which could be less."
Mersereau's organization doesn't buy this argument.
"Law enforcement and medical professionals all agree that cruelty to animals is a red flag. You can slap the quote-unquote 'cultural defense' on many such crimes, but the disregard for life and suffering is there and to treat it lightly does everyone a great disservice," he said.
The sheep, now named Tara-Anna, has been cared for at the Maplefarm Sanctuary in Mendon since the incident.
"She's doing much better," said Cheri Ezell-VanderSluis, who owns and operates the farm with her husband. "When she first came here, she was obviously petrified of humans."
The sheep is almost ready to be housed with other animals, but still shows fear at times, Ezell-VanderSluis said.
"Even now if too many people go in with her, go around her, she goes in sheer panic mode," she said. | Source: Milford Daily News - July 21, 2005
Update posted on Jul 24, 2005 - 11:52PM |
Two Ecuadoran women were arrested yesterday for allegedly dragging a sheep around outside and beating it like a "pinata."
Maria Pizha-Tacuri, 39, and her daughter Rosa Pizha, 20, were arrested at the police station about 4 p.m. following several days of investigation by Officer Joseph Shuras.
Pizha-Tacuri and Pizha were both charged with animal cruelty in connection with witness reports they were tormenting the sheep near their 2 Cemetery St. home, police said.
The women allegedly hog-tied the animal, then dragged and beat it with sticks, police said. Witnesses told police they appeared to be enjoying the activity, and that at one point, one woman looked as though she were trying to snap its neck.
Pizha-Tacuri told police over the phone that day she was using the "animal as a pinata and later planned to stab the animal to death with a knife to eat," a police report stated.
The sight was very unexpected for the half-dozen staffers at the nearby Blaire House who came upon it, said Martha Mancuso, an administrator at the Claflin Street facility.
"It was extremely upsetting to watch, for me personally," Mancuso said.
Shuras said the case stems from a culture clash. "To them, it's their culture," he said. "But now, they'll understand."
Shuras spoke to the woman's husband earlier in the week and said he reported the family paid $200 for the sheep at a local farm. The husband said they also purchased a pig the women were seen cooking in their yard Sunday, but that these animals are not sold alive, according to Shuras.
The husband faces no charges in the incident. "He's not being charged because he didn't do anything wrong as far as we can tell," said Shuras, who was assisted by the Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "He was at work."
As for the sheep, Shuras said the year-old ewe has been signed over to a Mendon farm's custody. A veterinarian has examined the animal.
"It's sore in several spots, we're told," he said. | Source: Milford Daily News - April 15, 2005
Update posted on Apr 15, 2005 - 7:52AM |
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