Posted on 06/19/2002 5:06:29 PM PDT by Shermy
A Hannibal town justice Monday night sentenced a man to what one investigator says is among the toughest penalties faced by an Oswego County defendant in an animal cruelty case.
Darcy Noble, 33, of [ snip ] Road, Woodland Trailer Park, received three years' probation and was ordered to pay $675.15 in restitution. Justice Luther Dennison also ordered Noble not to own any animals for the next five years.
Noble admitted last month in court that he starved his dog earlier this year. The dog, a 3- or 4-year-old mixed breed, never recovered from the malnutrition so doctors euthanized it, said Officer Sheldon Furlong, an Oswego County Welfare Animal Cruelty investigator.
"The judge made a clear message that this will not be tolerated," Furlong said. "It was very clear the district attorney's office and the judge are fully enforcing the Agriculture and Markets Law against people who abuse and neglect animals that result in unnecessary pain, torture and death."
Oswego County sheriff's deputies arrested Noble and Mabelene E. Gigon, 31, in February after finding a dead German shepherd and two starving mixed breeds outside their mobile home, police reports said. The mixed breeds were euthanized after doctors said the dogs were traumatized and not recovering, Furlong said.
Sheriff's Deputy Daniel J. Ferazzoli, Furlong and a town animal control officer went to the home after someone reported the incident Feb. 3.
"We found one of the dogs frozen into the ground with a collar and chain still on it. It was chained to a tree and laying next to the dog dish, which was filled with leaves," Furlong said. "The dog had been starved to death. The other two were in pretty bad shape."
A veterinarian's report showed the dog weighed 20 pounds at death, or one-third of what it should have weighed, Furlong said. The report also said the 7-year-old German shepherd had not eaten in weeks or maybe months. It died of malnutrition and exposure to cold weather, Furlong said of the report.
Noble and Gigon were charged Feb. 9 with one count of failure to provide adequate sustenance to an animal, a misdemeanor in the Agriculture and Markets Law. That was for each of the mixed breeds. Gigon also was charged with a misdemeanor count of cruelty to an animal resulting in the death of the German shepherd by starving it.
Noble and Gigon pleaded guilty to the charges last month in Hannibal Town Court, Furlong said.
Gigon's case was adjourned until July 2 because her presentence report was not complete, Furlong said.
I never said I don't find anything wrong with it. I don't find it a legally punishable offense.
Morally wrong does NOT necessarily = legally wrong.
Those frontiersmen shot people who messed with their animals. Many on this thread would do the same thing.
You and mameslukesabre seem to have a need to appear macho; instead you come off as inbred hillbillies.
Yes! Because those animals were their property, their LIVELYHOOD. You don't actually think it was because of some emotional attachment, do you?
Because it is not a human child.
Why should it be okay to abuse them just to abuse them?
It's not O.K., but it shouldn't be illegal. It requires a cold objectivity to understand this. The fact that you don't actually makes you a decent person. I just wouldn't want you being a judge.
A dog starvd at his masters gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.-- William Blake, Auguries of Innocence.
And, you needn't worry, I don't want to be a judge. I hate attorneys and would never make it through my first day of law school.
Agreed. I have cable , too. I'm just as sucky as everyone else. But I'm not violating anyone's property rights by going online or watching T.V
Yes I do. How do you know they didn't have emotional attachments to their animals?
Or do you think mankind has always been as heartless towards animals as you two?
It requires a neanderthal, adolescent, lets-giggle-while-we-set-the-dog-on-fire mentality to not understand that cruelty to a sentient being is criminal.
Cruelty to an animal is now, in Texas, a felony.
That makes you somebody's girlfriend in a Texas hoosegow.
Read the Odyssey sometime.
When intelligent creatures work for man, lines of communication -- even affection -- develop. That is as true today as it was for Odysseus and Argos
"Thus they spake one to the other. And lo, a hound raised up his head and pricked his ears, even where he lay, Argos, the hound of Odysseus, of the hardy heart, which of old himself had bred, but had got no joy of him, for ere that, he went to sacred Ilios. Now in time past the young men used to lead the hound against wild goats and deer and hares; but as then, despised he lay (his master being afar) in the deep dung of mules and kine, whereof an ample bed was spread before the doors, till the thralls of Odysseus should carry it away to dung therewith his wide demesne. There lay the dog Argos, full of vermin. Yet even now when he was aware of Odysseus standing by, he wagged his tail and dropped both his ears, but nearer to his master he had not now the strength to draw. But Odysseus looked aside and wiped away a tear."
Do rural people regularly starve their dogs?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.