Outrage in Virginia: Sherry Overfelt gets just 15 weekends in jail for starving her horse to death

VIRGINIA -- A Boones Mill woman will serve 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to one count of animal cruelty Thursday in Franklin County Circuit Court.

Sherry Renee Overfelt, 41, was charged with cruelty after a horse she owned, Lulu, died of malnutrition in January.

Overfelt was sentenced to 365 days in jail, but through a plea agreement, all but 30 days of the sentence were suspended. Judge Stacey Moreau said Overfelt could serve the 30 days in jail on weekends.

Sherry Renee Overfelt sits with her attorney C. Holland 
Perdue III during her trial on animal cruelty Thursday in 
circuit court. Staff Photo by K.A. Wagoner

Judge Stacey Moreau also ordered that officials take a third horse Overfelt owns, as well as her six chickens, two cats and a duck.

In addition to the jail sentence, the judge also ordered that Overfelt not be allowed to have agriculture animals. Overfelt must also make restitution to the Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue for its care of Lulu after Overfelt surrendered the horse on Jan. 23.

A second misdemeanor charge of failing to provide feed, water and veterinarian treatment for her horse was dismissed through a plea agreement.

Lulu, a 28-year-old Appaloosa mare, was taken away from 
owner Sherry Renee Overfelt in Boones Mill in January. The horse 
was so malnourished that it had to be euthanized.

Overfelt testified that she knows "what I did was wrong, but I had a lot of demands on me during that time."

Overfelt’s husband, Christopher Overfelt, testified that she is chiefly responsible for raising their four children, who range in age from 2 to 14, and she also cares for his ailing mother.

“She’s got a lot on her back,” Christopher Overfelt said. “She also takes in animals. Feeds them. Finds them homes.”

He said his wife has found homes for about 15 animals over the past year.

“I basically don’t have a life during the day,” Sherry Overfelt told the court, and acknowledged she’d become overwhelmed in the time leading up to when the horses were seized: “I was not in my right mind. I tried to care for the horses myself, and I couldn’t.”

Overfelt said one of the reasons the horse (Lulu) was weak and thin was because another of her horses "bullied" Lulu by biting her and not allowing her to eat.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Patrick Nix said Overfelt still has one horse that she will have to surrender to Franklin County Animal Control.

In closing statements Thursday, Nix said he did not think Overfelt's lack of care for Lulu was done maliciously, "but she had a duty to care for the animal. She couldn't care for it, and as a result, that animal suffered and died."

Judge Moreau said the lack of caring for the animal by Overfelt was "tragic."

 

"This had been going on for a long time as evidenced by the scars and bites on the horse," and the condition of the horse before it died," the judge said.

The case against Overfelt came to light when Animal Control Capt. Marvin Woods received complaints about a starving horse. Woods visited a pasture on Crooked Run Road where Overfelt's three horses were living. Woods found a 28-year-old Appaloosa mare (Lulu) that weighed only 575 pounds, he said.

[The vet testified that a horse of this age and size should have weighed 900 pounds.]

Nix said the veterinarian who examined Lulu evaluated her on a nine-point body condition scoring chart, with 9 being the healthiest level, and rated her a 1.5 to 2.

After being charged with inadequate care of an agricultural animal, Overfelt surrendered Lulu and one other horse to the Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue in Hardy on Jan. 23, Woods said.

Rescue Director Patricia Muncy described Lulu as "extremely emaciated with no muscle tone" and noted that the horse's backbone, hip and "bone skeleton" were visible. The horse was weak and unable to stand on her own, Muncy said. Lulu was placed in a medical hoist to support her body and help her stand.

When Lulu was examined by large animal veterinarian Dr. Chris Sumner, he ruled out other causes for her weight loss and said she suffered from severe anemia and low blood proteins.

"I believe this mare was severely malnourished and this caused her death," Sumner said in a written statement. "Despite aggressive IV fluids, antibiotics and steroids, she did not respond and had to be euthanized."

The second horse surrendered to the rescue is an 8-year-old Saddlebred gelding (Neptune) that weighed 802 pounds, Muncy said. Although his hips and ribs were visible, Neptune is responding well to his new diet and had gained 100 pounds within two weeks of being brought to the horse rescue.

(Franklin News Post - May 3 2013)

Earlier:

• Horse owner indicted on two cruelty charges