NorCal Man Arrested For Animal Cruelty; Horse Rescue Foundation In Need Of Help

October 27, 2011 8:21 AM

(credit: The Grace Foundation)

Reporting Mike Dello Stritto

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EL DORADO HILLS (CBS13) -– A Northern California animal rescue group may need some rescuing of its own after helping save dozens of horses in what some are describing as the worst cases of animal cruelty they’ve witnessed.

Volunteers from The Grace Foundation in El Dorado Hills were not prepared for the conditions it found on a Northern California ranch in April, where the carcasses of 25 horses littered the property, many just the skeletal remains.

“It was just a graveyard for horses,” said Beth DeCaprio of The Grace Foundation. “It was the worst case I had ever seen.”

Graphic video shows the horrific conditions at the Whispering Pines Ranch in Lassen County. Some of the surviving horses were forced to feed off the dead.

On Wednesday, Dwight Bennett, the owner of Whispering Pines Ranch, was arrested and charged with 30 counts of animal cruelty.

“There’s a price to pay when we forget about the innocent and the voiceless,” said DeCaprio.

DeCaprio helped rescue 56 horses over several months, all of them now at The Grace Foundation Ranch in El Dorado Hills. Nursing the ailing equine back to health is a slow and tedious process. And there are about to be more “unexpected” survivors.

“You know, it’s a tragic situation. And these are all young horses under 3 who are all pregnant,” explained DeCaprio.

At least 18 mares are pregnant. And finding homes for the horses is not easy. There aren’t enough people with the means and interest in giving the horses a good home.

And now, tight on cash, The Grace Foundation is in need of some saving of its own to continue its mission to save these horses.

“We’re just desperately asking the community to step up and help us in any way they can,” DeCaprio said.

One of the horses rescued from the ranch is now a police horse for the Folsom Police Department.

NorCal Man Arrested For Animal Cruelty; Horse Rescue Foundation In Need Of Help

Rich

It appears that those who claim to promote “animal rights” would prefer neglected horses to humane slaughter. Horses are NOT pets – they are LIVESTOCK. Where did they expect all of the old, sick, diseased, and unwanted horses to go? There aren’t puppies, kittens, and bunnies. They require an incredible expense to maintain. With distressed city, county, and state budgets shelters will struggle to keep up with the care of abandoned and neglected pets, let alone 1,000+ pound LIVESTOCK. There was an efficient system in place to prevent this sort of problem but it was sytematically shut down through misguided legistlation. Being part of a multi-generational farm family and having OWNED, USED, and CARED for horses most of my life I understand the realities and economics of owning LIVESTOCK. Let the activists spend their own money dealing with the cruel results of pursuing of their Disney dream world.

Denise Beck

NOT THE ISSUE HERE…THIS GUY WAS BUYING METH AND OTHER SUBSTANCES INSTEAD OF HAY…HE NEVER CLEANED STALLS THAT THE ANIMALS WERE FORCED TO STAY IN…THEY WOULD DROP DEAD AND HE’D DRAG THEM WITH A TRACTOR TO A PIT..THEY WOULD COLIC…NO ATTENTION…HE HAS PLENTY OF MONEY..NO VET EVER CALLED AND HE HAS NUMEROUS CHARGES FILED AGAINST HIM…PLEASE DON”T CLOUD THE ISSUE HERE!!!

Rosemary

Actually it is the issue, because if the rescues were’t so full of horses that should go to slaughter, they would be able to care for these horses and find them good homes.

Kristin Lyle

And they aren’t pets why? For MANY people they are fantastic “pets”, even though this word evokes thoughts of only dogs and cats. Disagree completely that the “activists” should be spending elsewhere. I’ve watched Grace Foundation in action (they are just down the road from me) and they were NOT going to allow this to happen to these animals… these lives. Bless that foundation and Beth Di Caprio for all that has been done to save the animals (be it chihuahuas or cows).
Laura

The so-called system of horse slaughter you refer to was beyond disgusting and cruel. You people who support these acts make me sick. Slaughtering a horse is not like putting it to sleep- they are savagely killed, so don’t paint it as something it is not. If people would just take responsibility for whatever livestock or pets they own, then rescue groups and individuals like myself would not have to keep trying t o come to the rescue of so many animals. No animal deserves to be killed or starved to death because of irresponsible owners. Take care of your animals, period and quit finding excuses for not.

Denise Beck

I have PERSONAL knowledge about this case. EVERYONE in town does too!! This guy is a HORRIBLE person..and has had the law called on him for everything from Domestic Abuse..Animal Cruelty..Illegal substances..and recently he was GIVEN CUSTODY OF FOSTER CHILDREN!!!
WAKE UP PEOPLE…Horse disposal is NOT THE ISSUE HERE!!!! These animals were forced to stand in small stalls with FEET of manure..no shelter from the snow..and he NEVER fed them…He has money..he JUST DOESN’T CARE!!

Suzette

Denise, I’m in your camp. Thanks for trying to keep everyone focused and tell people what really happened.
jubal

Kind of like Desi Arnez in Corona, California, right? Look it up or talk to locals. Mr. “I Love Lucy” let 40 horses die from his neglect, if one is to believe his neighbors in Corona.

Beth Ann Clark

related to the Sculptor Bennett’s from that area?
Son Diggity

I’m a liberal and believe in the humane treatment of animals, but I also believe in putting animals down who have served their usefullness and the culling of animals. As a liberal, sometimes I’m embarrassed by some of these stupid policies passed by voters who know nothing of farm or ranch living. Not all liberals are crazy and hypocrites. I for one, as a liberal, won’t be having children. There are practical liberals and idealistic liberals. I’m the former.

Kristin Lyle

Isn’t this more about caring for lives? You mention the word “liberal” so many times throughout, but it shouldn’t really matter. As I mentioned above, I am a staunch conservative, BUT I love animals because they are living, breathing, needy beings that also have no voices of their own. No idea whether this guy was a liberal or a conservative, but it doesn’t matter. His politics shouldn’t determine his HEART for his animals. They deserved at the VERY LEAST food, water, and basic equine care… and then there were the dogs on his ranch — dead. What in the world?
muzjik

I’ll bet you’re thankful that my kids will be working to provide your Social Security payments.
Laura

When is YOUR usefullness up? Who gets to decide these things? Give me a break.

Mitch Shurtz

$2/bullet x 70 horses = $140. Where do I send the check?
Irv

Perhaps the horses on the range should be eliminated PERMANENTLY. They are an introduced species and should eradicated to save the environment.

denies

i sincerley doubt you care at all about saving the environment with that comment. So myopic and jaded, so hateful.

Cavallodifiero

All you who wish to open a slaughterhouse, eradicate wild horses so that pot smoking unwashed sandle wearing escapees from the 60′s can go out and “enjoy nature” and save the environment, get real jobs and stop living off the public dole.

AS for what to do with an unwanted horse that you can’t make any money on or who carried you and you fat butt mate around faithfuly and is now too tired to lug you about, why not “kindly” invest in a vet visit give it the final shot and release from it’s wasted life with you. And for the guy who says horse meat taste better than beef, get yourself a can of ALPO.

Ann

Amen.

Barbara Soldera

Some pretty hostile people here. Clearly horse slaughter has nothing to do with this specific situation. It is neglect pure and simple. I don’t understand why people are so open to the killing of animals they deem useless. BTW, there’s nothing HUMANE about slaughter. Either you value life and have respect for all the creatures of the planet or you don’t. We are supposed to be stewards of this planet. Try a little compassion and kindness for a change.
LeonidasOfSparta

The article stated– incorrectly– that some horses were forced to feed off the dead. Is this author a dunce or just an ignorant stooge? Horses DON’T/CAN’T eat meat. Their digestive system is perfectly tuned to taking the protein from alfalfa and turning it into muscle.
That said, I have to say that this person who derelected his duty to care for and nurture these beautiful animals should be jailed for negligent homicide– FOR LIFE.

hello

you clearly don’t understand what the term homicide means.

Gryphon

Kill Mr. Bennett; problem solved.

Honestly, how could you allow this f’ing dirtball to live?!? What is it?
steve5150

This guy should be thrown in jail and the horses should be sent to slaughter.
Nobody wants half starved livestock.
Rodger

Rancher is arrested. Abortion doctors walk free.

denise

one track mind, everything, every issue, boils down to abortion. if you care so much for life, why do you want to kill stuff so badly?

Ken Smith

I seldom comment on things such as this but this article, and some of its comments, strike close to home. Disregarding the unnecessary remarks about drugs, illegals, etc ad naseum, i’m going to comment on the realties of horses for the benefit of those who don’t have a clue. First off, they are expensve, very expensive, to keep and maintain. At today’s prices here where i live, you can easily spend $15-20 per day per horse just for hay and feed. Vet costs just for wormings, vacinations, and the minimum required health tests can esily run several more hundred/year- if a horse gets seriously injured or sick, vet costs can run into the thousands. Those figues do not include the time and labor invested n a horse, nor do they include the associated costs of land, facilities, barns, stables, corrals, taxes, utilities, water, saddles, equipment, travel /trailering/transport expenses, etc ad naseum. Balanced against these costs are depressed sales values that are, for most horses, extremely low. In these parts, a horse sold at public auction frequently will not bring enough to cover the cost of transporting him to the auction nor cover the auction fees. usually, here, a horse will not selll at alll at public auction, no matter how low the price. The result is that a lot of good and well-meaning people wind up caught in a trap where they can’t afford to keep and feed a horse, can’t sell him, can’t give him away, and they can’t legally and humanely kill him nor turn him loose.

This situation is directly due to the glut of horses, which in turn is the result of good intentions run amok among people and politicans who simply don’t know what the hades they’re doing. Those people who banned the slaughter of horses probably had good intentions but, in banning humane slaughter, they just created a worse problem where some horses live in inhumane conditions, and other horses are trucked to mexico for inhumane slaughter.

Horse lovers and animal rightists can not have their cake and eat it too. Either some horses are going to die humane deaths or they are going to live iinhumanely and die inhumanely.

The only other alternative is for the general public to step up and start paying the expenses to maintain a lot of unwanted horses. But it’s been mny experience that animal lovers generally don’t love animals enough to pay those costs.

Kristin Lyle

One horse at a time. Thankfully Grace is willing to take on more. The option is to kill horses that are no longer useful and expensive to maintain. But to do nothing? I guess the suggestion from you is to simply euthanize all the horses from this ranch — the horses that have been through so incredibly much. No way.
Laura

Why don’t you actually explain this “humane” slaughter? It is impossible to call it humane because the horses are brutally killed. At least be honest about how they are killed. Just like in the dog and cat world, quit breeding them to start- that in and of itself will help. Slaughter is not and should never be the “answer”- that is the lazy, greedy way out.
Beatty

Ken,
There is no such thing as “humane slaughter” in ANY slaughter house whether it be here in the US or Canada or Mexico!! If you had the facts, you would know that.
Have you ever witnessed a horse being killed by the puntilla knife or captive bolt methods? I have.
Puntilla knife slaughter involves repeatedly stabbing the horse between the shoulder blades into the spinal cord until the horse is rendered paralyzed. And then it is slaughtered alive. The captive bolt method involves hitting the horse in the head in a very specific location to render the horse unconscious or stunned. However, since it was designed for cattle whose brains sit much closer to the front of the skull, a panicked horse usually has to be hit several times to knock it down. Often, they are slaughtered conscious. Now tell me, what is humane about either method??
And please don’t suggest that animal lovers don’t care to pay the costs. I have personally donated to, worked for, and adopted from horse rescues alongside many thousands of other caring people.

Jason Smith

So many sociopaths in one comment thread. The United States deserves its fast track to decline. I look forward to the day when most of you will be in similar shape to these horses.
http://www.stophorseabuse.org/horse-abuse-facts/norcal-man-arrested-for-animal-cruelty-horse-rescue-foundation.html NorCal Man Arrested For Animal Cruelty; Horse Rescue Foundation … | Stop Horse Abuse

[...] more here: NorCal Man Arrested For Animal Cruelty; Horse Rescue Foundation … ← Probation, possible jail in McHenry horse abuse [...]
Donna DiGirolamo Saunders

I would love to help and I would love to have one of the horse and take care of it. Please let me know.
Brian

You take what horses are good enough to be saved and you put the rest down. There’ a point where ideology/feeling/whatever takes second place to common sense. The foundation named in the article is doing good ..but it’s taking its idealism too far.

Kristin Lyle

But “good enough” is so relative, Brian. I don’t believe it’s enough until you’re tried your hardest. If at that point, taking ALL things into consideration, euthanasia should be done… I agree. But I’m all for idealism, because people can make amazing things happen — big things… like this — by going “too far”.

MB Adams

“There’s a price to pay when we forget about the innocent and the voiceless,”
Western Civilization is already paying the price for it’s inability to protect the unborn. What a sick society we live in, plants and animals are precious but babies in the womb are expendable.
Bill

It’s kind of ironic that the banker controlled government is trying to starve us out and people are asking to save horses.
What a shame.

goatley

The real story, Congress banned the horse slaughter. Now the price of new horses has gone through the floor destroying two industries, depriving people in japan and france a valuable source of cheap protine, and creating this animal cruelty crisis. Now instead of selling an old horse to the slaughter for food, the shoot them on the back 40 or put them out to pasture.

Shannon Kasben-douglas

the slaughter house dont want the old they want the young and fat and japan can buy cows ,beef will bring more money in then horse meet
Mintgreen

Nothing to do with cruelty to horses. Why don’t you go eat a salad and unstop your colon?
Ranger Gerry

Correct goatley. Put out to pasture means starved. Old horses can be fat if taken care of and that is the point. When an animal is worth something dead, it will be taken care of alive. Horses are not just large pets.
Dog Owners of America Unite for high quality protein for our beloved pets.

“British Double Jim”

This save the horses fraud is a perfect example of environmentalist ignorance expressed through the Congress of the United States. Environmentalist don’t have a clue about real life. They make occasional forays away from their compost cluttered lives to gather information via e-reality. Naturalist on the other hand spend the majority of their lives away from the protected comforts of urban life. Naturalist have a much better understanding of nature’s life and death balance.

Juniper Island

Horses are treated terrible in the Havasupai India reservation near Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon. Ribs are showing on some, many are forced to haul heavy loads thousands of feet in elevation with no water or food most of the trip in bad weather conditions. Someone needs to monitor this. I also saw homeless dogs on the trail. Dump your policitical correctness & keep Indians accountable as well.
nooneuknow

The price of government intervention, when they outlawed the culling of excess horses they left them with no value. Now you can’t give one away.

Badger40

The loss of slaughter facilities in the US has led to this. We slaughter cattle to eat & they are just as smart as a horse. But yet, we cannot slaughter a horse? Ridiculous. I raise both of these animals. As a rancher, I would never treat my animals this way. I would shoot them myself. But most people who own horses think they are pets.
Horses are NOT pets. They are LIVESTOCK. People just have no clue what they’re getting into.
Bring back horse slaughter. It can be humane & horses can provide food for people, like COWS do.

Mintgreen

Idiot.
Anne Prost

Horses are a high dollar sport: Dressage, Hunter Jumpers, Eventing, Vaulting, Reining, Driving, Cutting, and on and on. In Dressage, it takes about 10 years to train the horse to FEI levels. Do you have any idea how much money is put into the economy because of equestrians? Do you call it livestock when one rides a horse and pays 300.00 dollars for a 30 minute lesson?
Your horse is your partner! Horse’s are NOT livestock in this country.
Charles

Mintgreen is the IDIOT and Anne is living in an isolated world. MOST horses are not Dressage, Hunter Jumpers etc. They are working animals and they ARE livestock. If you don’t think so get out of you cozy city dwelling and come out to the country. They are not pets although I for one enjoy my horses more than the dogs (which are working dogs, not pets). Badger40 is absoulutly correct. The closing of the slaughter houses wrecked the horse industry. Now if you want to raise saddle horses, don’t bother you won’t get enough money to pay for the breeding, feeding, and training. Now what do you do with an old horse? Shoot it? Leave it out in a field? Field is needed for cattle. People like you have no idea what it means to actually work a ranch. As for horses for food some people (French/Japanese/etc) actually like horse meat.

Lorelord

Notice they dont name the Rqanch owner.

LordlordIsADunderhead

Notice you can’t read or spell.

Bob Billings

How brilliant of yoo to have notised. Smart ass.

Bill

They did

“Dwight Bennett was arrested and charged”

CJ

nooneuknow’s comment is dead on. Animal numbers need to be managed through lethal methods, period.

goatley

Ask congress about5 the horse slaughter they ended.

goatley

The real story, Congress banned the horse slaughter. Now the price of new horses has gone through the floor destroying two industries, depriving people in japan and france a valuable source of cheap protine, and creating this animal cruelty crisis. Now instead of selling an old horse to the slaughter for food, the shoot them on the back 40 or put them out to pasture.
LIGHTHORSE

These kind of situations are all over the US. After you blame the person in controll of the ‘RESCUE”(HAHA) BLAME PITA AND THE ASPCA. People ate horses for a very long time(other countrys still do). But the wackos decided they were pets. There are 100s of thousands of horses at these ‘rescues’. My horses were my best friends and I loved them. Would I eat they, yes today with the economy the way it is, only if the horses were not useful anymore or if the needed to be put down. Same the HORSES, STOP THE DUMMIES.