Those items led to the arrest of his wife, Brooklyn Ferris, and him on three counts each of A misdemeanor cruelty to an animal. And, Nick says, the couple has received death threats since the story ran in Sunday’s Martinsville Reporter-Times.
[With the death of the dogs, they should have been charged with Aggravated Animal Cruelty.]
The arrests stem from two dogs that, according to a probable cause affidavit from the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department, were found dead without food or water in a pen at the house they were moving from to another location.
Nick, 22, said they had not been living at their home at 1897 E. Ind. 42 because the air conditioning was broken.
He had been giving the dogs regular food and water, his only mistake was not burying them in a timely manner, Nick said.
“I did wrong. I didn’t bury the dog. And I’ll admit to that,” Ferris said. “I’ve been breeding dogs since I was 6 years old, bud. I’ve been around dogs my entire life.
“I failed. The other one passed away; I didn’t bury that one.”
According to the probable cause affidavit filed by Morgan County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Steve Hoffman, a resident who lives close to the Ferrises called the department to report the possible neglect of animals at the Ferris home.
Hoffman went to the home, and determining that no one was there, looked over the fence into the yard. In the kennel, Hoffman said he saw the two dead dogs.
In the report, Ferris allegedly admitted to leaving the dogs without food or water for some time. He said he knew the dogs were dead, but he did not have the time to bury them. He allegedly admitted the dogs had been without food and water for about a week and a half.
Ferris said that report is not accurate and that he did give the dogs food and water.
“I had fed them two days before the first Beagle passed,” Ferris said. “When I feed, I feed in quantity. I feed a seven-pound bag of dog food. I don’t feed a bowl and say here, this is what you get for the day. I make sure they have enough to last.
“After the first dog died, there was still food and water in the pen. When I went out to feed again, the second dog was dead. I wasn’t going to feed and water a dead dog. It was 1 o’clock in the morning. I didn’t bury them then. Days and days went by and I didn’t bury them.
“Yes, I failed when I didn’t bury the dogs.”
[Does this idiot not even have common sense enough to ask himself why his dog would just up and die, if he were feeding and watering it? He didn't wonder why the second dog had died? You can't fix stupid. Priceless.]
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| Ferris: full of excuses |
Ferris also said the claim that there was excessive waste in the pen and in the house is overblown.
The floor of the kennel, Hoffman said in the report, was covered in what he guessed was 100 or more piles of dog waste and urine that had completely matted the cedar chips into a solid substance.
“I clean my pen and I re-cedar my pen every three weeks to a month,” Ferris said. “When they come in and the dogs were passed away, it should have been right then that the pens would be cleaned and re-cedared.
“On the house, yes. The house was destroyed. There was poop on the floor. Me and my wife hadn’t stayed there in a week and half to two weeks. The dogs got in the trash. It was a mess.”
Ferris, however, also disputes the claim in the police report that the temperatures were in the 90s that week and that the house was too hot for the two dogs staying inside the house.
“It was probably 75 degrees in that house,” Ferris said. “It was not 90 degrees like the officer said.”
The National Weather Service high temperatures for the week preceding May 4 are listed as being in the mid- to low-80s.
The Yorkie and Beagle staying in the house were turned over to the Morgan County Humane Society.
As for the death of the dogs staying outside, Ferris said they were sick and died of illness, not starvation.
“I nursed one dog back to health,” Ferris said. “I did my best with the other two dogs. There was nothing I could do. Those dogs died.
“Yes, I failed in not burying the dogs. I know what it takes to keep them alive.”
He said he was trying to find a home for the dogs before they got sick because he could not afford them anymore.
“I was trying to find a home for the two dogs before they got sick,” Ferris said. “I was not going to take them to the Humane Society. I do my very best not to take dogs to the Humane Society. Those dogs live 30 days then they kill them.
“They said I let dogs starve to death. I didn’t starve no dog. They gas dogs, 10, 15, 20 at a time — that’s how they put their dogs under and they do it after 30 days. So, I do my best not to take dogs down there.
“Yes, I have picked up strays. I try to find them homes. If I can’t find them homes, I have taken them to the Morgan County Humane Society.”
Megan Gonterman, director of the Morgan County Humane Society, said Ferris’ assertion is an incorrect, but a common, misconception and that he could have brought the animals there.
“I have a dog that has been here since October of last year,” Gonterman said. “I have several dogs that have been here for months. There is absolutely no time limit on how long they can stay.
“We do euthanize, we aren’t a no-kill shelter. But we don’t euthanize based on room.”
If space becomes an issue, Gonterman said they will find homes for the animals or send them to another no-kill shelter.
Gonterman said Ferris did have contact with them after his neighbor turned their Beagle over to the society. The dog was examined because it appeared to be malnourished.
The veterinarian that contracts with the society examined the dog. A letter from the vet said the “dog was in very poor condition, but that the owner did seek veterinary care for her prior to her presentation.”
Gonterman said Ferris did not tell her at the time that he had two more dogs at his home that were in need of any veterinary care.
“A case like Nick, we were not able to help his dogs because he didn’t tell me he had more dogs at home,” Gonterman said. “We never tell people there isn’t room. We tell them if they surrender an animal over that if it’s a stray, we’ll hold it for three days then put it up for adoption or send it to a no-kill shelter.
“We tell them it can be euthanized. But that’s only in a case where it has bitten someone or has behavioral problems.
“We are an open admission shelter. We take anything that comes in from Morgan County. We try our best to find every animal a home.”
(Herald Times - June 21, 2012)
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