Animal graveyard [link]
Knox couple charged with 16 counts of animal cruelty after starved, dead dogs and horses found
Samantha Swindler | Sep. 12, 2008
Animal Shelter Manager Amy Young pokes through a collections of teeth and bones and finds a small spinal column — still wearing a rusted choke collar around what was once the creature’s neck.
In a nearby barn on the same property, Young guessed that a mostly-decomposed horse — probably about five years old — died eight months ago, still wearing its harness. More than a dozen other animals, dogs and horses in poor health but still alive, were also removed from the property.
It’s the most grisly animal abuse scene Knox County officials say they’ve witnessed, and a young couple is now facing a total of 16 felony animal abuse charges because of it.
Police were first called out to the Jarvis area home of 24-year-old Earl Enlow and 22-year-old Melanie Rogers Wednesday afternoon after receiving a call that several horses were starved on the property.
“Officer Chad Gregory with the Knox County Sheriff’s Department received a complaint on malnourished horses,” said Carl Bolton, Knox County constable and animal control officer. “He came out here, could not find anybody home, actually found the horses, looked at them, and contacted me. I came out and looked, and we found approximately 15-16 dogs that, some of them were in real, real bad shape. They were being fed but not fed enough. They had sores and stuff like that on them.”
Bolton also discovered the dead horse, left where it had died in a nailed-shut stall. Officials weren’t sure if the stall had been sealed before or after the animal died.
While officers were searching the property, Enlow and Rogers returned to the trailer they were renting and were arrested at approximately 3 p.m. Wednesday. Enlow was charged with 11 counts of animal cruelty and Rogers with five. Recently changed legislation now makes each of these counts a felony in the state of Kentucky.
“We’ve impounded the dogs, we’re in the process of moving the horses to another farm,” Bolton said. “All we could find for the horses to eat was two bales of hay. What field they’ve got out here is not adequate. It’s just a real bad situation. And we’re getting more and more complaints from people in the county about situations like this.”
Bolton noted that a single horse could go through a bale of hay in one day.
Five of the most severely malnourished dogs were seized Wednesday. Eight more dogs, five horses and one pony were retrieved by members of the Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter Thursday morning.
“It’s on the verge of death,” Young said of one of the horses, adding that the dogs had mange, were dehydrated, and some had kennel cough.
In addition to the horse, officials discovered at least five dogs, one rabbit, one cat and three fighting roosters dead on the property. The rabbit and roosters were found dead, still in their cages. Only the cat was given a shallow grave. Young said she just couldn’t understand how the couple could live in the home so close to where the animals were dying.
“You’d have to hear the cries, you’d have to live with it, you’d have to smell it,” she said.
James Earl Smith, an uncle to Enlow who lives nearby, was on scene Thursday morning and had offered to care for some of the horses. Smith said Enlow “has a good job” but has been off work lately due to an injury. Smith claimed he didn’t know about the horses’ condition, but said Enlow had bought them roughly a year ago for about $25 each because they were already malnourished.
“He (Enlow) just basically said he was trying to take care of them and really didn’t have the money to take them to the vet,” Bolton said.
Young said it would take months for the animals to fully recover, but once they do — and after criminal proceedings are completed — the dogs would be available for adoption. The horses will be staying with a foster caregiver, but the shelter is asking for donations of hay and feed to help with their care.
“This is probably one of the worst scenes I’ve seen since I’ve been an animal control officer,” Bolton said.
Enlow and Rogers have been released from the Knox County Detention Center after posting 10 percent of their $2,500 bonds. A phone number listed for Earl Enlow was disconnected.
Photo shows what is reported to be the worst-off horse taken from the property.
Simply put, a huge overpopulation of horses—caused by many varying factors—is at the very core of this problem.
What will solve it?
* UPDATE can be found here
No comments:
Post a Comment