crazy local news
This is amazing. The News-Leader is the local newspaper here in town, and if you haven't heard the Zobel horse issue yet, it's probably because it happened right here in Missouri and no one gives a flying fuck about this state. And for good reason.
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051201/OPINIONS03/512010322/1006/OPINIONS
The author of this letter was the lawyer representing a man named Zobel, who had a horse ranch here close to Springfield. I remember reading the original article in January when I was eating lunch with Mr. Asher to talk about school crap and what not. I read the article and was outright furious. Mr. Zobel is quite plainly, a fucking asshole. He owned over a hundred horses, and after several complaints an animal officer went to the ranch to check it out - there were horse carcasses in the fields, along with skeletons. Dozens were in varying stages of starvation, and several more were sick with disease, infection, and malnourishment. The extraction of the horses from the ranch went from 3pm until 4am the next day, the largest that has ever happened in Missouri, and everyone involved couldn't remember seeing such terrible treatment of that many animals. After autopsies of the dead horses and the ones that died during the transfer and rehabilitation stage, they found out that most of them died of a type of worm - their stomachs were so full of worms that they did not have room to eat (one reason of starvation on top of the fact that there was no water source besides snow, and little to no pasture.) Some horses had open wounds that were never taken care of, and some had "strangles" which those of you with dogs/cats can relate to as a type of distemper-like disease for horses. Rehab was helping these horses on with a new life, and most were adopted by families that would love and care for them.
So the guy shows up to court dressed in a red/white/blue cowboy get-up, complete with cowboy boots (yes i did see the picture) and says that the seizure was illegal and he wants his horses back. It has taken 12 months for this fucking case to end, and the guy gets nothing but a slap on the wrist because he withdrew all ownership of the horses. This does not only mean that he doesn't go to jail, but he also only has a two year, unsupervised parole during which he can't break any law, or own any animals. Two years. THAT'S IT. This guy could have fucking killed all those horses, and he gets two years. He starved dozens of horses. Let the dead ones rot in the same pasture the living ones feed. And he gets two years. Amazing. Simply fucking amazing. And his lawyer writes a fucking letter to the newspaper saying "Some will say that the horses are living creatures. True, but that is an emotional response and has no place in a stable, dependable and repeatable system of law." Who the fuck does this guy think he is? Who the FUCK does he think he's kidding?
To read the rest of this insane case:
http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/3594/MO/US/
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051204/OPINIONS01/512040339/1006/OPINIONS
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051201/OPINIONS03/512010322/1006/OPINIONS
The author of this letter was the lawyer representing a man named Zobel, who had a horse ranch here close to Springfield. I remember reading the original article in January when I was eating lunch with Mr. Asher to talk about school crap and what not. I read the article and was outright furious. Mr. Zobel is quite plainly, a fucking asshole. He owned over a hundred horses, and after several complaints an animal officer went to the ranch to check it out - there were horse carcasses in the fields, along with skeletons. Dozens were in varying stages of starvation, and several more were sick with disease, infection, and malnourishment. The extraction of the horses from the ranch went from 3pm until 4am the next day, the largest that has ever happened in Missouri, and everyone involved couldn't remember seeing such terrible treatment of that many animals. After autopsies of the dead horses and the ones that died during the transfer and rehabilitation stage, they found out that most of them died of a type of worm - their stomachs were so full of worms that they did not have room to eat (one reason of starvation on top of the fact that there was no water source besides snow, and little to no pasture.) Some horses had open wounds that were never taken care of, and some had "strangles" which those of you with dogs/cats can relate to as a type of distemper-like disease for horses. Rehab was helping these horses on with a new life, and most were adopted by families that would love and care for them.
So the guy shows up to court dressed in a red/white/blue cowboy get-up, complete with cowboy boots (yes i did see the picture) and says that the seizure was illegal and he wants his horses back. It has taken 12 months for this fucking case to end, and the guy gets nothing but a slap on the wrist because he withdrew all ownership of the horses. This does not only mean that he doesn't go to jail, but he also only has a two year, unsupervised parole during which he can't break any law, or own any animals. Two years. THAT'S IT. This guy could have fucking killed all those horses, and he gets two years. He starved dozens of horses. Let the dead ones rot in the same pasture the living ones feed. And he gets two years. Amazing. Simply fucking amazing. And his lawyer writes a fucking letter to the newspaper saying "Some will say that the horses are living creatures. True, but that is an emotional response and has no place in a stable, dependable and repeatable system of law." Who the fuck does this guy think he is? Who the FUCK does he think he's kidding?
To read the rest of this insane case:
http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/3594/MO/US/
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051204/OPINIONS01/512040339/1006/OPINIONS