Four legged friends (and enemies): INJUSTICE IN NORTH DAKOTA: Billy Ray Hackler, 57, who abandoned 29 cats to die in North Dakota apartment, will spend just 15 days in jail

Thursday, December 17, 2015

INJUSTICE IN NORTH DAKOTA: Billy Ray Hackler, 57, who abandoned 29 cats to die in North Dakota apartment, will spend just 15 days in jail

NORTH DAKOTA -- A Grand Forks man was sentenced this week to 15 days in jail for animal cruelty after leaving 29 cats in a Grand Forks apartment.

Billy Ray Hackler, 57, pleaded guilty Monday in Grand Forks Municipal Court to a Class B misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals for abandoning the cats, which were taken to Circle of Friends Humane Society in Grand Forks, where they joined dozens of others that have been brought to the already overloaded shelter.

One of the sweet looking cats left to die by Billy Ray Hackler.

A warrant was issued for Hackler's arrest after Grand Forks police responding to a report of cats left in a vacant apartment at 401 N. Fourth St. found more than two dozen in the unit without food or water.

Grand Forks Community Service Officer Jean Youshefski, who usually responds to animal calls in the city, said the conditions in Hackler's apartment were the worst she had ever seen in her more than 20 years on the job.

"(In the apartment) there was a mattress and that was about it," she said. "And there were just urine and feces and flies — it was horrible."

It turns out he was only charged with a city ordinance violation, NOT a state crime.

Under city law, cruelty to animals carries a maximum punishment of 30 days in jail or a $1,000 fine.

The ordinance notes it is illegal in the city for a person to "cause or inflict any unnecessary or unjustifiable pain, suffering, injury or death to any animal."

Hackler's jail stay will begin once other charges pending in Grand Forks District Court are settled, according to a criminal judgment. In district court, he faces two felony and five misdemeanor charges, including reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and possession of drug paraphernalia, after leading police on a car chase early Dec. 12 in Grand Forks.