“The animal cruelty charge is a bunch of bull,” Stephen Ray Buchenauer said. He said he would never neglect Abby, whom he said has been there for him during times of depression.
Animal-rights activists highlighted his case Tuesday as among an increasing number of animal cruelty cases taxing the Forsyth County Animal Control Department.
Buchenauer, a registered sex offender, is charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty. Tim Jennings, director of Forsyth County Animal Control, said Buchenauer owned a dog that had several puppies.
Officers had cited him in December when they saw that the dog appeared emaciated and urged him to get a veterinarian to examine the dog, Jennings said.
Buchenauer said he told officers that he couldn’t immediately afford to take his dog to the veterinarian and had been working with them to get financial assistance. He said his dog was thin because she had recently had a litter of nine puppies.
But Jennings said Buchenauer’s dog was very thin and her bones were showing through the skin. That kind of condition comes from neglect, Jennings said.
Jennings said Buchenauer was uncooperative to the point that animal control officers had to get a search warrant for his house on Tobaccoville Road.
By the time officers executed the search warrant, Buchenauer had moved the dogs to various locations, Jennings said. The adult dog was found at another house, and officers have yet to find the puppies.
The dog was still very thin when officers found her but had gained some weight, Jennings said.
Buchenauer said he adopted out the puppies to various people. Jennings said officers continue to investigate.
Buchenauer was ordered to register as a sex offender after he was convicted in Stokes County in 2011 on a charge of taking indecent liberties with a minor.
He is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Forsyth District Court on the misdemeanor animal cruelty charge
(Winston-Salem Journal - March 13, 2013)
