Massachusetts: Repeat offender Truro rabbit farmer Kenneth Abert admits to animal cruelty; gets just one year of probation

MASSACHUSETTS -- A Provincetown man who raised rabbits for sale as meat or fur was placed on probation for one year after admitting sufficient facts Wednesday in Orleans District Court to a charge of animal cruelty.

As part of that plea deal, Kenneth Abert, 56, also was ordered not to possess rabbits and to have no involvement in the sale of rabbits or their meat.

After receiving a report from an officer with the Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who had been unsuccessful in getting Abert and property owner Luther Bumps to improve living conditions for a horse and eight rabbits, Truro Animal Control Officer Suzanne Trasavage and police Officer Thomas Roda visited Bumps' home on Bayview Drive in North Truro in August.

In her report, Trasavage described being overcome by the smell of urine and said the rabbits were sitting in their own feces in stacked cages in a basement with no ventilation. Their food was moldy and some of the rabbits did not have water. The horse had no covered shelter and its water trough was covered in algae.

Abert previously had been ordered to shut down a similar operation in Provincetown, where he was found to have kept more than 50 meat rabbits to be slaughtered and sold to local restaurants. He also had as many as 10 Angora rabbits bred for their fur. Provincetown officials found the living conditions at the Race Point Road property similar to those in North Truro.

Abert did not have a permit to raise rabbits and neither did the slaughterhouse he used, according to court documents.

As part of the plea deal, a charge of obstruction of an animal inspection was dropped.

Bumps is due back in court March 25 for a hearing on a motion to suppress evidence on a charge of animal cruelty.

The eight rabbits turned over from the Truro operation were placed at the MSPCA Cape Cod shelter in Centerville or the Animal Rescue League of Boston's shelter in Brewster. All have since been adopted, shelter spokesmen said Wednesday.

(Cape Cod Times - Feb 24, 2016)

Earlier:

• Truro rabbit farmer, Kenneth Abert, 56, charged with animal cruelty has been investigated before
• Rabbits seized in Truro animal cruelty case up for adoption

Massachusetts: Rabbits seized in Truro animal cruelty case up for adoption

MASSACHUSETTS -- Angora rabbits taken from an owner charged with animal cruelty are now available for adoption at two Cape shelters.

So far, two of the eight rabbits that were removed from allegedly filthy conditions in a Truro basement have been adopted.

Five others are available at MSPCA Cape Cod in Centerville and one is available at Animal Rescue League of Boston’s shelter in Brewster.

“Rabbits make wonderful pets for families," said Rob Halpin, director of public relations for the MSPCA. "It’s a great way to introduce kids to guardianship of companion animals.”

These rabbits, which are all about 2 years old, are social, friendly and easy to care for, he said. They are great with children and often get along well with other family pets, although they should be introduced to other animals slowly, he said.

"People who want to spend time playing with, cuddling with (their pet), a rabbit is a great choice," he said.

When they arrived at the shelters in September, the rabbits had serious skin infections and shelter staff treated them daily for about five weeks, Halpin said. One of the animals needed extensive dental work, he added.

Now the rabbits, which can be adopted for around $55, are healed and healthy, sporting long, beautiful fur, he said.

Their previous owner, Kenneth Abert, 56, of Provincetown, was charged earlier this month with animal cruelty after allegedly keeping the rabbits in stacked cages in a basement on Bayview Drive.

There was no ventilation for the animals, some of their food was moldy and three of the rabbits had no water, according to court documents. The rabbits' fur was matted from them sitting in their own waste, a report from Truro Animal Control Officer Suzanne Trasavage said.

After inspecting the property, Truro police asked Abert to turn the rabbits over to them and sought a criminal complaint.

In 2014 Provincetown officials had issued a shutdown order to Abert because he did not have the necessary permit for a rabbit-breeding operation he had set up on Race Point Road. When that property was inspected, dozens of rabbits were found in stacked cages with feces dripping from the cages on top into those below, according to Carol MacDonald, president of the Provincetown Animal Welfare Committee.

Abert is scheduled to return to Orleans District Court for a pretrial hearing Jan. 5.

(Cape Cod Times - Dec 15, 2015)

Earlier:

• Truro rabbit farmer, Kenneth Abert, 56, charged with animal cruelty has been investigated before

Truro rabbit farmer, Kenneth Abert, 56, charged with animal cruelty has been investigated before

MASSACHUSETTS -- A rabbit farmer who has come under scrutiny in at least two towns has been charged with animal cruelty after an inspection by the Truro animal control officer found eight angora rabbits in allegedly filthy conditions in a basement on Bayview Drive.

Kenneth Abert, 56, of Provincetown, was arraigned in Orleans District Court on Wednesday on charges of animal cruelty and obstruction of an animal inspection months after Truro police first received notice that was he was keeping rabbits in unhealthy conditions.

Truro Animal Control Officer Suzanne Trasavage first heard about the rabbits Aug. 20 from Chelsea Weiand, an officer with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Law Enforcement Division, according to court records.

Weiand had received an anonymous complaint about the animals. When she inspected 10 Bayview Drive in North Truro, she found a horse and eight rabbits at the home of Luther Bumps.

Weiand inspected the property and told Bumps and Abert they had to improve the living situations for the animals.

When Weiand returned Aug. 27, nothing had changed, according to court records.

Bumps also was charged with animal cruelty and was arraigned Nov. 16, according to court records. The horse had no covered shelter and a stagnant, algae-filled water trough, with no way to get more water, according to court documents.

On Aug. 31, Trasavage and Truro Patrol Officer Thomas Roda inspected the property.

The modest home is on a hill overlooking Cape Cod Bay. The rabbits were in the basement. As Trasavage and Roda descended the basement steps, “we were overcome with the odor of urine/ammonia,” Trasavage wrote in her report.

They found 16 rabbit cages stacked on top of each other with eight rabbits inside them.

“Each rabbit was sitting in its own urine and feces,” she wrote.

They had food, although some was moldy, but three had no water. The rabbits’ fur was matted from them sitting in their own waste, she wrote.

In the 80-degree summer heat, the smell of urine burned Trasavage’s eyes and throat, and she found no ventilation for the animals, she wrote.

On Sept. 4, the police asked Abert to turn over the rabbits to the care of the Truro police. He complied, according to court records. The Truro police would not say where the animals were taken, and Mary-Sarah Fairweather, executive director of MSPCA Cape Cod, would not confirm the rabbits were taken to the agency’s Centerville shelter.

She noted, however, that the facility does take angoras and other animals rescued by law enforcement and nurses them back to health to make them available for adoption.

The Truro police went before a clerk-magistrate Nov. 2 to determine if there was enough evidence to issue a criminal complaint against Abert. He was summonsed on the charges Dec. 2.

Abert could not be reached for comment. He uses an address on Race Point Lane in Provincetown to receive mail but does not live there, according to a man who occupies that house.

The man said Abert was a good person who had been farming rabbits in other locations for years and was trying to make a living here.

This is not the first time Abert has faced scrutiny for his rabbits.

In October 2014, the Provincetown Building Department issued a shutdown order to Abert, who was keeping rabbits on a Race Point Road property that included Nelson’s Riding Stables, according to Carol MacDonald, president of the Provincetown Animal Welfare Committee. Abert did not have the necessary special permit to breed rabbits for wool or meat, according to the notice issued by Building Commissioner Geoffrey Larsen.

MacDonald had first inspected Abert’s rabbits after a neighbor complained. She described how up to 60 rabbits were kept in cages stacked on top of each other, with the feces from one animal dripping down to the others.

Smaller, young white rabbits that were kept for meat were on top, while the larger angoras, which are kept for their fur and not slaughtered, lived on the bottom, she said.

“To see all those baby bunnies all crammed in there, the conditions were really lousy,” she said.

In his emails with Larsen last year, Abert said he wanted to sell high-quality rabbit meat on the Lower Cape and was looking for a better location.

Macdonald said Abert ended the meat production but she later heard he still worked with the angoras.
Abert is due back in court for a pretrial hearing Jan. 5.

(Cape Cod Times - Dec 4, 2015)