Horse abuse suspect has record

Harney County horse abuse suspect has record

Posted: March 30, 2009 08:22 PM CDT




More details in Harney County horse abuse case (3/30)
3: 05
Neglected horses seized in two rescue cases (3/29)
2:45 Also on KTVZ.com Neglected horses rescued in Harney County, Powell Butte
Dozen horses seized in Powell Butte; resident cited




And second suspect is on the run

By Nina Mehlhaf, KTVZ.COM

We're learning more about the big story from over the weekend, the two cases of horse abuse that led sheriff's deputies from Harney and Crook counties to make seizures.

The woman who was arrested near Burns has a past conviction of animal cruelty from Texas, and that has infuriated officials.

Sixty horse and 20 cow carcasses, some in pits, some out in the open, were found by sheriff's deputies on a property almost 30 miles south of Burns in Harney County. They say there was no hay, no grass - nothing.

The animals were left to starve on the property where Roxanne Still lives. Officials say she would buy the animals cheap and try to re-sell them.

"These people just didn't care," said Scott Beckstead, Oregon director of the Humane Society of the U.S. "They were just leaving animals to die out there on the ground, and bring more in. And maybe the dead ones were taken and dragged into a pit, and maybe not."

But what really angered humane society officials and Bend volunteers who helped rescue the 47 horses who were still alive, is the fact that Still was convicted of this same thing in Texas several years ago.

Beckstead says he doesn't know yet if Still was told she couldn't have any more animals after her conviction. But after police contacted her last Wednesday, he says she signed a release agreement to let the horses go.

But police say they showed up the next day to find she was trying to load up some animals to take them away. That's when they arrested her and charged her with neglect.

"The pure cruelty of letting the animals starve to death without taking any steps to try and help them or take care of them, but to bring more of them in, to me just shows wanton cruelty," said Beckstead.

There is a second suspect in this case, 57-year-old Richard Baldwin, who allegedly fled just before sheriff's deputies arrived this weekend.

They think he may have possibly fled to Texas or Montana, evading those charges, and there's a warrant for his arrest.

The largest case of animal abuse ever recorded in the state happened back in 2002 in Millican. The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office rescued 129 neglected and malnourished horses.

Many of them were filled with worms, had curling hooves, frost bite and were starving. Wayne and Rebecca Nichols were arrested and convicted on 150 counts of animal abuse, sending them to jail with hefty fines.

It was learned after their arrest that the couple had done this same thing before when they lived in Thurston County, Wash.

Deputies labeled them animal hoarders, and they were ordered to never own any more animals.

Officials auctioned off 126 of those horses to good homes that promised not to send them to slaughter, and most all of them made full recoveries.

It was the state's largest animal seizure, and gave local law enforcement good experience in spotting neglect in the future.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• HORSE
• ABUSE

[henriquesousa7]

She Used To Work A Fox 40 (KTXL) Sacramento lol

[ilovejustinbiebe1180]

I typed up 126 year old french women...and got this.

[baileym99]

this is my friends case. )= ims so dissapointed in her,

[PCRenegade]

I grew up there, little redneck place, and I still learned to read better than you....

[brandonakabob1]

anamal abusers should be treated like they treated the animals then shot

[ItsTheHood]

the people who aren't self centered and have lives...

[sam72998]

who gives a fucking shit about animals

[jokercrazy129]

haha the county is called "horny"

[starbabe58]

stupid jerks

[tikidikidoo]

Stories like this will make me wonder what makes some people tick. They are so sick and twisted. Poor animals. Another story added to the never ending list.