A Plea for Help from Arkansas

We had to confiscate over 50 dogs, American Field Bred Pointers (I think) and English Setters... can send you pictures.. but they were in awful condition.

It's a long story, but basically this Gary Kimes had over 60 dogs out on a mountain, and was feeding them slaughter house carcasses and old bread still in the bags.
They were living in 50 gallon barrels for shelter. Most were extremely emaciated, some dead, and a few had to be euthanized. After the whole thing hit the press and then the guy committed suicide. We have not yet gotten a release from the courts out here, but we're gonna try to move some anyways. They have no clue how many dogs are in foster homes, nor the shelter. Some have already been altered and had all shots....worming... not HW, though. Not too many mosquitos out here, and the shelter is very poor.
Surprisingly most of the dogs are very docile and loveable, despite no real human contact. I have a few I'm fostering that need more time before they can be adopted, just still soooo scared and timid -- but we need all the help we can to move some of these.

It was a pitiful sight. Dead dogs laying around, 2 pens the slaughter house carcasses were 12 inches deep the dogs couldn't even touch the ground, a puppy trying to feed off of his dead mother, garbage everywhere...no real food and definitely no water...I can try to send pictures. The first time I forgot my camera, the 2nd time we had this mini blizzard so you can't really see it all --but I can mail you the newspaper's article if you wish,they did a great story on it, or fax it to you if you have a fax machine. I can attempt a scan and email, but that probably wouldn't be that clear.

The shelter down here is not anywhere near as sophisticated as up there -- and everyone out here keeps their dogs outside 24/7, so was wondering if you can help with taking some dogs into your rescue. So many are sooo sweet, and I hate the idea of them being outside all the time.

Can you, and other rescues you may feel comfortable with, help us in any way?
Out here dogs do not get much respect, and they'd all be "outside" dogs. People out here dump them all the time in the woods -- or keep them outside and sort of forget to feed them -- there's a lot of folks out here that have no sympathy for the animals -- and the ones that do love them, never spay or neuter them, and have them riding in the back of the pickup trucks with no protection, all the time.
Still real backwards here. Also, sheriff will not arrest anyone for animal abuse, and there's a lot of it here.
Been working on the prosecutor, who is a lot more sympathetic -- but have to be careful in a small town about starting some major political fights.

If you remember that Tammy Hanson that had all the Katrina dogs, well, the prosecutor realized how powerful the animal rights movement is, so this is a good time to step in and get laws passed.... but that's off on a tangent. Just so happens she didn't show up for sentencing yesterday, either.

Please call me or email me. It's Brenda Bowers, 870 414-1245 is the cell, home is 870 436-3964, and the email is bbowers@leadhill.net.

I just opened the Baxter News from a Mountain Home local newspaper, will attach the article of that Tammy Hansen at the end if I can, just as a side issue.

They really need some help out here, if you can help, or steer us in the right direction it would be appreciated.
Brenda

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Newspaper article...below



Groups push to make animal cruelty a felonyCHANDRA HUSTON Bulletin Staff Writer
Animal cruelty has felony-level penalties in 41 states, but Arkansas is not one of those states.
Three recent animal cruelty cases have residents and lawmakers thinking about a push to make the current Class A misdemeanor offense a felony.
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Barbara Chambers, North Central Arkansas Humane Society board member, said the cases of neglect have to stop. Chambers said she expects the local Humane Society to join others soon to lobby for a law making animal cruelty a felony.
"It's something we've needed for a long time," she said. "I think we would have less problems with animal abuse and neglect."
The first major case occurred in October 2005. Tammy and William Hanson of Gamaliel were arrested and charged with 28 counts of animal cruelty after authorities found nearly 500 dogs, some thin and sitting in their own feces and urine, at the Hansons' shelter, Every Dog Needs A Home (EDNAH). The couple was found guilty on 20 of the 28 counts.
In January, Bruce Teeter of Bruno was arrested and charged with three counts of animal cruelty and failure to test for EIA, or Equine Infectious Anemia. Investigators found one dead mare and nine malnourished horses on Teeter's property. His trial is March 6.
The latest animal cruelty case came this month in neighboring Boone County. Gary L. Kimes was arrested and charged with animal cruelty for having approximately 40 emaciated dogs on his property in rural Boone County. Kimes later committed suicide.
State Sen. Shawn Womack said he has been approached by local individuals about toughening animal cruelty laws.
When asked if he would be willing to sponsor a bill allowing for felony penalties for animal cruelty, Womack said he would be interested in looking into the matter.
"I think we do need to do something that would allow for felony-level penalties," he said.
Womack said the bill would have to be well written with options for misdemeanor and felony charges.
Womack said there have been several attempts in the Legislature to bring about felony penalties for animal cruelty, but all of those efforts have failed.
"Each of those has been unsuccessful because of problems with either the language overreaching or confusion," he said.
In 2002, an attempt to make animal cruelty a felony failed at the hands of state voters. Act 1, commonly known as the Arkansas Animal Cruelty Act, would have allowed felony charges to be brought against anyone who "knowingly tortures, mutilates, maims, burns, poisons or maliciously kills, starves or disfigures any animal, according to ballot language.
The measure failed with 62 percent voting no and 38 percent voting for the issue. Opponents said the bill was loosely written and did not take into account the needs of farmers who have unwanted animals tearing up their crops.
The act would have made animal cruelty a Class D felony with a punishment of up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Arkansas isn't alone in its quest to create tougher laws. Animal cruelty is a misdemeanor in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Kansas.
chuston@baxterbulletin.com
Originally published February 24, 2006