Authorities search for kids who poured kerosene on cat

MICHIGAN -- Authorities are searching for three youths who were last seen running away after pouring kerosene on a cat in Alpena on Saturday.

The police and Huron Humane Society in Alpena are looking for two boys and one girl who were spotted quickly leaving the scene on Golf Course Road.

The community is offering a $1,500 reward to find the three people involved.

Officials believe the group was going to set the cat on fire.

The cat, named Hello Kitty, has burns on his body from the kerosene.  The vet believes that he may have ingested some of the kerosene and is being treated for internal burns.

The cat is expected to recover.

(UpNorthLive - Sept 30, 2014)

South Carolina: Dwight McCloud pleads guilty to abusing, starving horses

SOUTH CAROLINA  -- The owner of four horses found starving and living in urine-soaked muck in a Summerville pasture was slapped Thursday with the maximum fine in their mistreatment.

Dwight N. Benjamin McCloud, of Old Dairy Road in Summerville, pleaded guilty to five of seven charges in Berkeley County Magistrate’s Court and was fined a total of $5,462.50, the maximum allowable. He was given 30 days to pay or serve 30 days in jail for each charge.

McCloud was charged March 5 by Berkeley County Animal Control with three counts of failure to provide care or treatment for a diseased or injured animal, three counts of failure to provide humane treatment to animals and one count of failure to provide adequate food and water.

“Your lack of care (for the horses) is obvious to the court,” said Chief Magistrate Ava Bryant Ayers while sentencing McCloud.

Two other charges will be considered in two weeks to give McCloud a chance to comply. If he does, those charges will be reduced to court costs of $55 each, said Ayers.

McCloud, who did not have an attorney, first said Thursday that he was not guilty, but added, “I’m not here to fight anything. I’m here to get some consideration on the tickets.”

The first witness called was Shambley Equine Clinic veterinarian Howland Mansfield, who testified about the condition of the horses when she first visited them.

When she finished, McCloud said, “Instead of wasting the court’s time, I may as well just give up. I’ll just plead guilty and save your time and mine.”

Ayers told McCloud that she would accept a guilty plea only if he was guilty, and McCloud said he was guilty.

Assistant County Attorney Elizabeth Smith Cannon asked the judge to impose the maximum fine on the charges, and noted that McCloud agreed to provide better conditions for two horses still in his care.

“He has made progress on that plan but did not complete it,” Cannon said. The horses were scheduled to be seen by a farrier on Thursday. Cannon also requested that Animal Control be allowed to continue monitoring the horses, and McCloud agreed.

The other two horses were voluntarily handed over to LEARN horse rescue on March 2, and their health is improving.

After court, LEARN founder Elizabeth Steed she was disappointed that McCloud was not sentenced to perform community service so that he would learn more about horse care.

“The $5,000 he is going to pay in fines would have prevented this from happening in the first place,” she said. McCloud has said he could not afford feed or veterinary care for the horses. Steed said she would still take the two remaining horses if McCloud would give them up.

Mansfield said she also found McCloud’s penalty disappointing because the horses’ condition had not changed much.

“When I went back to visit, they were still in a muddy paddock,” Mansfield said. “The horses’ health was slightly improved but the facilities still looked the same. The water was dirty, the farm equipment was still there and the paddock had strings.

"He has had time to make improvements and hasn’t done it. Why should he get two more weeks?”

(Post and Courier - April 6, 2012)

Earlier:

• Horses starved and burned in Summerville animal cruelty case

South Carolina: Horses starved and burned by Dwight McCloud in Summerville animal cruelty case, police say

SOUTH CAROLINA  -- The images are graphic, the starvation and abuse obvious. Four horses severely underfed at a farm in Summerville. Two of the horses have since been voluntarily signed over to a rescue farm.

Elizabeth Steed of LEARN Horse Rescue says, "When they first came in they had to have muzzles on because they were trying to eat the shavings in the stall."

 

The starvation was only the beginning as one of the horses also has severe burn marks all over the back. Veterinarian Howland Mansfield, who first responded to the call, explained that kerosene was poured on the horses back. It's an old wives tale that the oil is a remedy for rain rot.

"I believe it was kerosene and possibly oil that was poured on the horse, which caused burning of the skin, and the horse lost large portions of the skin and parts of the musculature on the top as well."

The description of the pain is almost too much to hear. Steed says, "Basically he was slowly burning from the chemical."

Maggots were even found in the burned flesh, pockets of unhatched eggs even found even six days later. "I was combing some of the areas of the hair up front and we still found pockets of maggots."

The other two horses found on the farm still remain in the custody of the owner, Dwight McCloud (aka Dwight Benjamin McCloud). Stopping by McCloud's home, you can catch a glimpse of the remaining horses in the backyard.

The only water available

McCloud did not want to speak on camera about the situation, but paperwork filled out by animal control shows, he had recently fallen on hard times. In the paperwork, he explains he "had to cut back on food because he couldn't afford it."

McCloud also quoted in the paperwork as "upset" because he was ticketed even after signing the horses away. He is quoted as saying, they were "humiliating" him.

 

The horse scored a 0.5 on the Henneke Body
Condition Scale. You can't go much lower without being dead.

Mansfield says, there is no excuse for starving animals. "We can find them a home if you cannot care for your animals, we are more than happy to find a place for them."

When asked if the paint gelding, named Whisper, with the burn marks will have scars for life, Steed responded, "All of us, that have taken care of him, we are profoundly affected. So I think we are the ones who are going to have the scars. You just never get used to it, and as many times as I have seen that look in their eyes, it just never gets easy."

Steed went on to estimate that the recovery process will take 3-4 months, and thousands of dollars.

Even if McCloud is assessed fines for the neglect, that money will not be funneled to the care of the animals.

(WCBD - March 8, 2012)