Vol. 29, No. 2 #2 (April 2006). Legislature Enacts Cost of Care Bonding in Animal Cruelty Cases.

• Author: By James F. Davis

Wyoming Bar Journal

2006.

Vol. 29, No. 2 #2 (April 2006).

Legislature Enacts Cost of Care Bonding in Animal Cruelty Cases

WYOMING LAWYERApril 2006/Vol. 29, No. 2Legislature Enacts Cost of Care Bonding in Animal Cruelty CasesBy James F. Davis

In March of 2004, Powell farmers Ted Jones and Mary Laverty stopped their pick-up along a remote farm road in Park County and looked across a fence at the noticeably poor condition of some 40 head of cattle and horses. The animals were in bad shape even for winter conditions; their ribs and hips protruded through their hides and they appeared generally lethargic and unhealthy. Ted and Mary saw no sign the animals had any source of food except for a few trees stripped of bark and patches of weeds scattered over an otherwise barren lot. The available water lay in shallow, stagnant pools in a boggy drain ditch spiked with various animal remains. Despite the animals' condition, Ted was reluctant to say anything. He later testified that it was an unspoken tradition among livestock producers to hesitate before reporting how a neighbor cares for livestock; getting livestock through the winter can sometimes mean low rations and thin cows. Mary, who grew up elsewhere, didn't have Ted's cultural inhibitions. After a couple of days, she dropped a call to a local veterinarian, who called the brand inspector, who in turn called the sheriff. In short order, the State seized the animals, the bank took the cows, and the State placed the horses for proper feed and care. The Park County Attorney's office filed animal cruelty charges against Bill Chapman, Sr., and his daughter, Samantha Taylor, and nearly a year after the seizure a Park County jury found both guilty on a multitude of animal cruelty counts for failure to provide both feed and water.

Circuit Court Judge, Bruce B. Waters, credited the defendants with the delay of nearly a year in getting to trial (at one point the prosecutor filed a "Vigorous Opposition" to a defense motion to continue). In the interim, the court refused to return the animals to Chapman because Chapman did not present the court with an adequate plan to care for the animals. Throughout the proceedings the Wyoming Livestock Board paid the costs of feed and care. At sentencing, the court ordered that Chapman pay approximately $43,000 in restitution to the Livestock Board.(fn1)

The...