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Case #9489 Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Hoarding - over 100 horses, 31 dogs, more
Seville, CA (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Aug 10, 2006
County: Tulare
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Sandra Werner
Case Updates: 5 update(s) available
Tulare County Animal Control has started delivering hay to feed more than 80 horses found starving on a farm south of Seville. Authorities may file an animal abuse case against the owner of the horses.
"They're skinny, and a lot of them are scarred up," said Billy Harman, environmental services manger for the Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency, which oversees animal control.
"There's a lot of them in a small area fighting for food," he said, explaining that most of the horses were in what had been a grape orchard where the animals apparently had eaten most of the plants and weeds they could find.
"So they're basically just starving."
About 25 other horses, including some foals 3 to 6 months old, were confined in a makeshift pen and survived on little food, Harmon said.
He said the owner of the horses told animal control officers she fed a "flake" of hay a day - a single bale of hay has about 14 flakes - divided between 25 horses.
A veterinarian who inspected the animals told animal control officers that a healthful diet for a horse would be two flakes a day for each horse, Harmon said.
On August 10, animal control officers arranged for delivery of more than 75 bales of hay to the farm in the 36000 block of Road 156, at a cost of about $10 a bale. And about the same amount will have to be delivered daily to provide a healthy diet for the 82 horses, many of whom were so thin that their rib and hip bones were protruding under their flesh.
Tulare County sheriff's deputies received a call that day from a Friant Water District employee working along an irrigation canal that runs along part of the 20-acre property. He reported seeing two dead horses and others that appeared to be in poor health.
Harmon said one of the horses had died at least a month ago while the other died about a week ago, and the carcass was bloated. He said the woman who owns the animals "had pulled them out of the pen with the other horses, and they were [left] off the canal road" after they died.
Authorities have not disclosed the name of the horses' owner because she has not been arrested or charged.
Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Douglass said members of her department's Agricultural Crimes Unit, which is investigating the case, likely will ask the county District Attorney's Office to file animal cruelty charges.
Besides finding the horses on the farm - which last year had been a working vineyard, Harmon said - authorities also found a cow, 31 dogs, four goats, two sheep and a pen full of lovebirds.
In addition, they found the remains of a dead goat and a dead dog.
A sheriff's report states that the cow had a growth on its side, but Harmon said that except for the horses, the other animals appeared to be reasonably cared for, though the dogs were crowded in kennels.
Efforts to contact the owner of the farm were unsuccessful. A metal gate with a no trespassing sign blocks the entrance to the property, and the house and area where the horses are kept are too far from Road 156 to be visible.
Except for the horses, Harmon said, Animal Control has no concerns about the care of the birds and livestock, but the woman has been given an order to get rid of most of her dogs, as a county ordinance allows individuals to own just four.
But the horses are another matter.
Harmon said the horses were not removed from the property in part because the owner has not yet been charged with a crime. In addition, he said, where they are now is adequate at least for a few days as long as the horses get the food that his department is providing. "The county will definitely seek reimbursement for all of the costs," Harmon added.
The animals also are getting veterinary care, something they appear to have been denied for a long time, said Harmon, adding that at least one of the foals appears to need extensive medical care.
"There are also a lot of young foals out there," he said. "Several of them were very skinny, very neglected. One was so skinny it was barely able to get up and walk."
As for the adult horses, several were scarred. Harmon said he suspects that some of those injuries may have resulted from fights with other horses over what little vegetation they could find to eat in the vineyard.
"They were foraging anything they can," he said, "so I would imagine the weaker ones are getting kicked."
Douglass said "This is a very uncommon case," as she has never seen a report of suspected animal abuse this extensive.
As for why this suspected abuse occurred, Harmon said of the horses' owner, "Why she operates the way she does and doesn't provide adequate care for these animals, that's the big mystery."
Case UpdatesThe Seville woman accused of starving 82 horses will spend nearly a year in jail. 61-year-old Sandra Werner was upset as she left the Dinuba Courthouse this morning, after receiving a 300 day sentence and three years probation.
Back in August, Werner was arrested on 17 counts of animal cruelty. She pleaded no contest to 16 counts.
Investigators showed up at her house and found most of her horses to be malnourished. Many had their bones showing from under their skin.
Most of the horses have been in the care of a Riverdale man, but it could take a year before they are healthy again.
Werner must also undergo a mental health evaluation. She'll be back in court in February. | Source: ABC Local News - Dec 27, 2006
Update posted on Dec 28, 2006 - 4:55PM |
Sandra Werner faces a jail term of up to a year after pleading no contest to 16 animal-cruelty charges.
In Tulare County Superior Court in Dinuba on Nov 17, Werner, 62, entered the plea on 16 of 17 felony counts of depriving an animal of drink or shelter. She had faced up to 13 years in prison if convicted on all 17 counts.
Werner, arrested in August, accepted the plea bargain after Judge Stephen Drew said he likely would sentence her to no more than 365 days in jail and three years of probation if she were to plead guilty or no contest, said Shani Engum, a supervising district attorney for Tulare County. A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as one by the court.
Tulare County Animal Control officers reported finding 82 badly malnourished horses on the vineyard in the 36000 block of Road 156. Some were foals 3 to 6 months old.
Animal Control officials, who had previously investigated Werner for suspected horse abuse but had not filed criminal charges, fed the animals in an effort to hasten their recovery.
Within a few days, Werner began selling the horses - 74 of which went to Carl Mendez of Riverdale, who said he planned to nurse the animals back to health and sell them.
Four of the horses died, Mendez said. The 40 to 45 he has yet to sell are on a good diet and doing well, their ribs no longer visible.
"They're still not out of the woods yet," he said. "They're still not fat, but they're getting there."
Mendez, noting that some businesses donated feed to help the sickly horses, said he hopes to have them fattened up and fully healthy within a month. They'll need that extra fat over the winter, he said.
"Winter is hard on horses," he said. "Horses tend to lose weight during the winter."
Werner's attorney, James Wilson, would not comment on the case or his client's plea. She is due to return to court Dec. 27 for sentencing.
Prosecutors are deciding whether to ask that the sentence involve more than jail time and probation, Engum said.
"Most likely, we will ask for a restrictions of her owning [large] animals," Engum said. | Source: Visalia Times-Delta - Nov 23, 2006
Update posted on Nov 23, 2006 - 12:36PM |
Tulare County prosecutors said they don't plan to offer any plea deals to Sandra Werner, facing 17 animal cruelty charges that she allowed her horses to starve.
"It is our plan to prosecute this case to the full extent of the law," said Assistant District Attorney Don Gallian.
That means the Seville woman could be sentenced to more than 13 years in prison if convicted on all the counts.
But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants something more. It is asking that any sentence Werner, 60, receives also include mental health counseling and prohibitions against owning any animals in the future.
Earlier this month, Tulare County Sheriff's and Animal Control officials went to investigate a report of two dead horses on a vineyard where Werner was living in the 36900 block of Road 156, south of Seville.
Officials said they found the dead horses along with 82 others that appeared not to have been fed sufficiently. And several were scarred, possibly from fights over what food they had.
It wasn't the first run-in Werner has had with county authorities over the treatment of her horses.
A page from a 2001 Sheriff's report filed with the Tulare County Superior Court states that in September of that year, many of the 40 horses she was raising on another property in the 35900 block of Road 140 near Visalia were malnourished and in need of other care.
Animal Control officials have refused to say how they followed up on that case and whether they even checked if those horses were nursed back to health, saying they could not comment because that case is related to this latest investigation of Werner.
In a letter posted on PETA's Web site, the organization says a letter has been sent to Shani Engum, the prosecutor in the case against Werner, accusing Werner of being an "animal hoarder," somebody who obsessively accumulates animals.
"Experts agree that dementia and other mental health disorders may be at play in such cases," states the Aug. 28 letter.
"Hoarders' behavior is akin to that of substance abusers in the following ways: Preoccupation with the addiction, repetition of the addictive behavior, alibis for their behavior, neglect of personal and environmental conditions, claims of persecution, the presence of enablers who assist financially, denial that the addiction exists, varying degrees of social isolation and abuse of animals through neglect." Animal Control officers reported finding 30 dogs and other animals on the vineyard along with the horses, but there were no concerns about the other animals' care.
The letter goes on to say, "Upon conviction, only carefully considered sentencing and probationary conditions can preclude the otherwise inevitable recurrence of these crimes."
In addition, PETA - which claims to have more than 1.1 million members - has asked the District Attorney's Office to "ensure that [Werner] is banned for life from owning, caring for or having custody of animals [as is permitted by law] and that all animals currently in her custody are immediately seized."
Attempts on Tuesday to call Werner, who is free after posting $50,000 bail on Aug. 21, and her public defender were unsuccessful. And her son, John Werner, who co-owns the vineyard where the horses were found, said Tuesday that his mother would not comment on the case.
Werner is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 20 in Tulare County Superior Court in Dinuba, with a confirmation hearing - which had been scheduled Tuesday - postponed until Sept. 13.
Gallian said PETA's request that Werner get counseling was "an unusual request."
Such requests are more common in domestic violence or abuse cases, he added.
But PETA's request isn't necessary, Gallian said, because under California law counseling is a sentencing requirement for an animal cruelty conviction.
Dr. Kenneth Fiser, a veterinarian called in by authorities Aug. 10 to look at the horses on the vineyard, told investigators that "the vast majority of the horses were moderately to severely undernourished," according to a Sheriff's report filed with the Superior Court.
It goes on to say that Fiser estimated that most of the horses were 300 to 400 pounds underweight, the animals likely were underfed over several months and that the oat straw some were eating was more suitable for animal bedding, not for food.
The report states that Fiser returned with deputies and Animal Control officers on Aug. 15 to perform a more detailed assessment on 20 of the horses. In the report, four of them were graded as moderate or moderately thin, while 11 were rated thin or very thin and three were rated in poor health - "very emaciated. Bone structure of the neck, withers and shoulders easily noticeable."
"After scoring the above horses, Dr. Fiser said he did not see some of the horses that were worse off on his visit Aug. 10," the report goes on to say.
Deputies later learned that Werner had sold most of the horses to Carl Mendes Jr., a Riverdale livestock trader who is John Werner's brother-in-law. He said in an interview last week that he plans to nurse the horses back to health and eventually sell them.
While he declined to say how much he paid for the animals during the interview, the Sheriff's report states that he reportedly told investigators he paid $75 a head for the first 17 horses and $10,000 for the rest.
"He said when Sandra called him, she told him she was tired of the horses and could not keep up with them," according to a Sheriff's report. "She said she knew the oat hay was not good enough for them but it was all she could afford."
George Findley, a Fresno Rural Animal Control officer who has inspected the horses on Mendes' small ranch and at a friend's ranch in Riverdale, said that most of the adult horses had gained about 100 pounds and seemed to be making a good start at recovering. | Source: Visalia Times-Delta - Aug 30, 2006
Update posted on Aug 30, 2006 - 7:11PM |
A woman accused of failing to feed dozens of her horses has pleaded not guilty to 17 animal cruelty charges.
Sandra Werner entered the plea on Monday (Aug 21) and was released from the Bob Wiley Detention Facility later that day after posting $50,000 bail. Her next scheduled court appearance in Tulare County Superior Court in Dinuba is Aug. 29.
Tulare County sheriff's and Animal Control officials say they found 82 starving horses belonging to Werner on the vineyard she co-owns south of Seville.
Nancy Loliva, a spokeswoman for the Tulare County Department of Health and Human Services, said the horses have been sold, but county Animal Control officers -who fed the horses but didn't take custody of them - did not check to ensure whoever bought the animals could care for them.
"Because they have been sold, that is up to the new owners," she said. "We don't have anything to do with that." | Source: Visalia Times Delt - Aug 23, 2006
Update posted on Aug 23, 2006 - 3:11PM |
Sheriff's investigators say a woman who was supposed to be caring for dozens of animals on a Seville-area ranch was arrested on Aug 17 on suspicion of 17 felony counts of animal cruelty.
Sandra Werner, 61, was booked into the Bob Wiley Detention Facility on $50,000 bail, said Sgt. Chris Douglass.
The week before, deputies responded to the ranch where Werner lives after a worker from the Friant Water District called authorities.
The worker said he saw two dead horses on the ranch near the canal, along with others that looked to be in poor health.
Deputies counted 84 horses, one cow, 31 dogs, four goats and two sheep on the property. Some animals had visible bones. One dead dog and one dead goat were also found on the property.
Douglass said Werner was arrested for alleged abuse concerning the animals that showed the most signs of being underfed or poorly treated, according to an animal body condition scoring system.
If convicted, Werner could face probation to three years in prison for each count, Supervising Deputy District Attorney Shani Engum said.
Tulare County health officials said that Werner had apparently sold all the horses. But they could not say to whom. They also didn't know the whereabouts or conditions of the other animals in the case. | Source: Fresno Bee - Aug 19, 2006
Update posted on Aug 19, 2006 - 10:31AM |
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