By Loren Drummond
Less than three months after law enforcement officials found nearly 500 dogs in staggeringly poor condition at an Ozarks-area property, an Arkansas judge on Monday found the property owners guilty of 20 counts of animal cruelty. Animal advocates hailed the conviction, and hoped that the horrific details of the case could convince the judge to press for stiffer penalties during sentencing.
Baxter County District Judge Van Gearhart found Tammy and William Hanson, owners of Every Dog Needs a Home (EDNAH) in Gamaliel, guilty of the misdemeanor cruelty charges, and also barred the couple from owning or possessing animals for one year, the maximum that the current law allows. Sentencing takes place February 23, and the Hansons face up to one year in prison, and a $1,000 fine.
The HSUS and other animal protection organizations had been sheltering and caring for the neglected animals since late October, when Baxter County Sheriff's Department raided EDNAH and asked the groups to attend to the dogs as the case proceeded.
"It's a great day for animals," said Melissa Seide-Rubin, HSUS vice president of Field Services, in reaction to the decision. "The HSUS is committed to continue work with Arkansas and others states to increase penalties for animal cruelty. Making cruelty a felony offense will help prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again, and will make enforcement of animal cruelty easier for law officials."
Scene of the Crime
The evidence presented in the case included testimony, photographs, and documentation that the Baxter County Sheriff's Department and prosecutors collected last fall, with the assistance of The HSUS. The evidence was chilling: 477 dogs, 107 of whom had come to Hanson from the hurricane-devastated New Orleans area, were living on a property that had neither permanent shelter nor bathroom facilities.
At least five of the dogs lay dead, some in cages, several in torn garbage bags. More than 50 dogs ran loose. Many suffered from injuries and disease. In most cages, five to ten dogs—male and female, injured and aggressive—were penned together. The largest pen held more than 50 dogs, but had only two doghouses. Rescuers found two cats caged together with a litter pan full of waste and maggots. Other caged dogs had scald burns on their paws from standing in their own urine and feces for days, even weeks.
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| Dozens of dogs were found penned together. |
Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery immediately arrested the Hansons on charges of animal cruelty.
In November, the district court appointed Tammy Hawley, program coordinator for The HSUS Southwest Regional Office, to supervise the care of the dogs while the case against the Hansons proceeded. Hawley oversaw operations on the property and coordinated with local law officials for nearly two months. She was later called in to testify in the case.
At the trial, Hawley spent nearly three hours on the witness stand, detailing the animals' poor condition, and describing The HSUS's efforts to stabilize their situation by providing critical care on site. Hawley testified that she needed to employ an average of 38 volunteers every day for the two months that she, and The HSUS, worked at the site to care for the animals.
"We quickly became the largest shelter in the state of Arkansas," Hawley said.
The Cost of Cruelty
The HSUS spent more than $100,000 to care for and relocate the animals in the case. Joined by a national team of HSUS professionals and responders from United Animal Nations' Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS), Hawley and her team initially provided emergency on-site sheltering, building pens to get the dogs out of the sun and rain. They gave the dogs medicine and coordinated veterinary care. They microchipped and photographed each dog, posting their photos online. The team lavished the animals with affection, and gave each dog chew toys and clean blankets. Perhaps most important, Hawley and the HSUS team arranged for the dogs to become pets in loving homes. Local families have adopted more than 100 dogs.
Some of the dogs have found homes among those local volunteers who were drawn to help, falling in love with the animals while working long days on the EDNAH property.
Other animals were returned to owners who had been missing the dogs for months, or even years. One soldier who had temporarily kenneled his dog at EDNAH returned from three tours in Iraq to discover that
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| Duke, caged in a pen on the property, and in his new home. |
Hanson refused to release the pets. Hawley said she heard similar stories as her team worked connecting dogs with their families.
More than two dozen dogs had been missing, or had been relinquished to Hanson for long-term kenneling by owners who were unaware of the conditions on the property, or Hanson's history. Nine of these dogs, now returned to their owner in Missouri, are at the heart of new felony charges against Hanson—and her arrest at the close of the trial. After her sentencing, Hanson will be extradited to Missouri to face criminal charges that she stole the Missouri dogs.
The HSUS transferred the remaining rescued animals to shelters across the nation, and Hawley reported that new, loving families have adopted almost all of the dogs.
Looking with New Eyes
Hawley said the northern Arkansas community has emerged from the trial with a new awareness about animal welfare.
"Many of the people here are now more aware of the dangers of 'Free to a good home' ads in the paper, as well as having positive identification for their pets. They can also now take a good, hard look at their current animal cruelty laws," said Hawley.
Throughout the case, the HSUS and law enforcement officials ran into roadblocks because of the minor penalties that convicted animal cruelty offenders face in Arkansas. Misdemeanor charges often do not carry strong enough penalties to deter animal abusers, and in a case like Hanson's, which involves animal hoarding, the minor penalties can restrict officials from ordering the counseling that hoarders may need.
Animal hoarding cases like Hanson's are typically characterized by rampant sanitation problems, unaddressed animal welfare needs, and an unwillingness or inability of the owner to acknowledge any problem. Hoarding is a behavior closely linked to mental illness. Because of this link, many hoarders, without help, repeat their behaviors. The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium estimates that as many as a quarter million animals a year are victims of hoarding in the United States.
Hawley and local officials, hope that the specifics of the EDNAH case—not to mention the $100,000 that The HSUS spent to rescue the dogs—may provide an opportunity for the judge to order counseling for Hanson. As the laws stand now in Arkansas, the misdemeanor fines add up to only $1,000, which would translate into only a handful of counseling sessions—far less than experts say is needed to address hoarding behavior.
While Hawley and Rubin acknowledge that the conviction represents a victory for the animals at EDNAH who were caught in the horrors of abuse and neglect, they agree that the fight to end animal cruelty is far from over.
“The HSUS refuses to tolerate animal cruelty,” said Rubin. “And we will pursue every opportunity, responding in the field and working with legislators, to prevent cases of animal hoarding, and to crack down on animal cruelty.”
Loren Drummond is associate editor of www.hsus.org.
