Horse severely neglected at school, left to die
Laveen, AZ (US)Incident Date: Saturday, Nov 4, 2006
County: Maricopa
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Goldie Burge
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says his animal cruelty investigators have made their second animal cruelty arrest at the Country Gardens Charter School in Laveen.
Goldie Burge, 54. was booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail on two counts of animal cruelty. She is the school's superintendent and president.
"The horse was sick on the ground in deep pain for 36 hours,:" Arpaio told CBS 5 News. "According to the employees that talked to our detectives, she said the horse is going to die anyway. We don't have $200 in our school budget, so just let him stay there and die."
The school, which enrolls about 200 kindergarten through 12th grade students, specializes in animal husbandry. There are horses, goats, pigs and donkeys on the school's property. Arpaio said he will forward the Sheriff's Office reports about the animal cruelty cases at the charter school to the Arizona State Board of Charters Schools.
"Enough is enough," Arpaio said. "The operators are repeat animal abusers and I would hope the charter school board will take appropriate action against the school."
In August 2003, Burge's son, Nick, the school's zoology teacher, was booked into jail on animal cruelty charges after several exotic birds died of dehydration while in his care.
Nick Burge was the first person to be booked directly into jail under Arpaio's new policy of jailing animal abusers in lieu of issuing citations at the scene. References« AZ State Animal Cruelty Map
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