COURT CALENDAR
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:
Animal Welfare Act
In recent Animal Welfare Act
enforcement cases, the USDA on August
29 fined James Joseph Hickey of
Albany, Oregon, $10,000 and suspended
his Class B dealer’s permit for 10 years for
a variety of offenses dating to 1990,
including the purchase of 46 random
source dogs and cats from unlicensed deal-
er Jerry R. Branton, who did not raise the
animals himself and therefore did not qual-
ify as a legal seller. The fine was the sec-
ond of $10,000 levied against Hickey’s
business in the past five years. David W.
Lance, of Just Quality Pets in Philadel-
phia, Pennsylvania, has been fined
$10,000 for selling at least 138 animals
without the proper permits. William,
Carmen, and Bonnie Winey of Winey
Farms in Deloit, Iowa, lost their Class B
animal dealers’ license for multiple health,
sanitation, and recordkeeping violations.
Settling a case originating on
June 6, 1990, Delta Airlines was fined
$60,000 with another $80,000 suspended
for transporting 106 dogs and two cats in
inadequately ventilated cages; 32 puppies
died, the second-highest loss of dogs and
cats on a U.S. domestic flight ever. The
total possible penalty of $140,000 is
greater than the sum of all other fines ever
imposed on airlines under the AWA.
Animal owners and booking agents annu-
ally report to the USDA from 25 to 75
deaths during air transport, out of an esti-
mated 750,000 mammals hauled aboard
domestic flights.
Libel suits
The U.S. Supreme Court has
let stand a July 25 ruling by the 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals that convicted
primate smuggler Matthew Block o f
Worldwide Primates in Miami must pay
attorneys’ fees for Shirley McGreal and the
International Primate Protection League,
amounting to as much as $150,000, for fil-
ing a “legally and factually baseless” suit
against them on August 3, 1990. Block
alleged that McGreal had illegally inter-
fered in a business relationship by forward-
ing to Dr. Peter Gerone of the Delta
Primate Center copies of USDA inspection
reports documenting deficiencies in
Block’s primate care facility, and subse-
quently advising Gerone that the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services
had revoked Worldwide’s permit to import
primates because of 46 violations of stan-
dards. McGreal meanwhile exposed
Block’s role in arranging the “Bangkok
Six” orangutan-smuggling case, for which
Block pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy
and was sentenced to serve 13 months in
federal prison. He remains out on appeal.
The Moscow Circus has sued
Save Animals From Exploitation direc-
tor Anthony Terry and five other SAFE
members for defamation of character in
connection with a recent protest. SAFE
requests that information about the
Moscow Circus potentially useful to their
defense be sent to Box 13366,
Christchurch, New Zealand; or E-mail
Marc Young, safe@chch.planet.co.nz
Crimes against humans
The unfolding federal probe of
horse-related insurance fraud has
already produced indictments in con-
nection with four long unsolved mur-
ders and disappearances––and may pro-
duce more, authorities said on August 26
Chicago stable owner Kenneth Hansen,
61, is charged with the 1955 kidnap-rape-
murders of three adolescent boys, and is
apparently a suspect or possible material
witness in the murders of four young
women and a sheriff’s deputy––and possi-
bly the 1967 beating death of Oak Brook
stablehand Albert Brooks, 33. Alleged
gigolo Richard Bailey, 62, is charged in
connection with the 1977 disappearance of
horse-owning heiress Helen Vorhees
Brach. Both Hansen and Bailey were long-
time associates of Silas Jayne, who died of
leukemia in 1987 after serving time for hir-
ing the hitman who killed his brother––and
escaping prosecution for the 1969 “self-
defense” killing of the son of one of his
brother’s employees. The investigation has
produced indictments against 19 people so
far for fraud and horse-killing, of whom
13 have pleaded guilty. Among those who
copped a plea in early September were
Jerry Edward Farmer, 61, who admitted
Todd Ross Silver, 29, of Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, was charged
September 8 with murdering Jeffrey
Olsen, 37, and tossing the body into the
Everglades in an attempt to disguise the
deed as an alligator attack. Police called
to the scene when the body was found did
shoot an alligator who was eating the
remains, but the wounded alligator
escaped, and an autopsy discovered that
Olsen had actually died of a beating.
Janice Smith, 28, a confirmed
schizophrenic, walked into a grocery
store in Gresham, Oregon, on August 23
with a loudly mewing cat and a six-inch
pocket knife. After asking for someone to
call the police, she threatened to kill the
cat when a police officer asked her to drop
the knife. “She then raised her knife above
her head and charged the police,” police
spokesperson Sgt. David Lerwick said.
An unidentified officer tried unsuccessful-
ly to spray her with Mace; another officer
then shot her dead. The cat ran away.
A court in Concordia
Saggittaria, near Venice, Italy, ruled
August 21 that resident Maria Bruna
Bortolussi must keep a parrot she taught to
utter death threats against her neighbor out
of the neighbor’s hearing.
Dog crimes
Two Rottweilers on August 30
killed Heidi Stafford, age 17 months,
and severely mauled her brother, Dustin
Hutchins, age 3, outside their home in
Smithville, Tennessee.
Julio Hector Claudio, of New
York City, left his two pit bull terriers
with his parents Ana and Manuel Claudio
while visiting Massachusetts on September
5. The dogs killed Ana, 66, and badly
injured Manuel, 64, as he tried to sum-
mon help. New York City banned pit bulls
in 1988, but the ban was amended into a
conventional vicious dog law in 1990 due
to protests about breed discrimination.
Jered Edwards, 8, of Fort
Edwards, New York, received 176 stitch-
es on September 15 after a pit bull owned
by Jeremy Dube, 18, raced into a busy
playground and pulled him off a swing.
Wildlife traffic
Marcelo Perez, 23, of New York City,
was charged September 8 in Miami with trying to
smuggle two pygmy marmosets into the U.S.,
which he intended to sell to a pet store for $1,500 to
$2,000 apiece. On the same day, in the same court,
Estrella Hernandez de Benitez, 40, of Nicaragua,
was charged with trying to bootleg in 600 turtle
eggs, to be sold as an alleged aphrodisiac at about
$5.00 each.
Animal neglect
Pet store supplier James Bates, of
Poplarville, Missisippi, on August 22 was fined
$3,111 and drew a one-year jail sentence, sus-
pended, with three years on probation, after
pleading guilty to three of 683 cruelty counts filed
against him on June 28. Doll Stanley-Branscum of
In Defense of Animals on June 24 and July 5 led
raids on Bates’ warehouse and home, resulting in
the seizure of 683 starving and diseased exotic
birds and reptiles; many others were found dead at
the scene. Although Bates was barred from selling
or housing animals within Poplarville, the 300-
odd birds and snakes still alive after his conviction
were returned to him, as the judge lacked the
authority to issue a forfeiture order. They were
reportedly sold out of state soon afterward.
Stanley-Branscum won a seizure
order in mid-September to prevent the starvation
of 12 cows owned by Charles Waters of Indianola,
Mississippi, who bought them with a Federal
Mortgage and Housing Authority loan, then pas-
tured them on just one acre of land, without
access to water. The FMHA was to auction the
cows to satisfy its debt; In Defense of Animals
planned to bid on those it had a chance to acquire.
Harry Breur, 33, and Edward Breur,
3 2 , of New Market Township, Minnesota, are
due for a hearing on October 26 in connection with
four misdemeanor cruelty charges resulting from
the April starvation deaths of 67 dairy cows and
calves ––in a barn with full grain bins, close to the
Breur brothers’ own house. Another 53 emaciated
cattle survived. The Breurs had lost their milk con-
tract on February 14, apparently because the
underfed cows weren’t producing enough butterfat.
The Animal Rights Coalition asks that letters be
sent to Scott County Attorney James Terwedo,
asking that the charges be increased commensurate
with the number of animals who died and suffered:
428 South Holmes St., Court House #206,
Shakopee, MN 55379-1380.
The SPCA of Johannesburg, South
Africa, announced September 1 that it will prose-
cute Afrikaner Resistance Movement officers Leon
van der Merwe and Clifton Barnard for failing to
make arrangements to water their horses while in
jail from mid-April through August. Their caretak-
er disappeared; 12 horses died.
Christmas tree vendors Stuart Miller,
52, and his son William Miller, 31, of Malibu,
California, were charged September 7 with mis-
demeanor cruelty for leaving eight reindeer on a lot
in 103-degree heat without food, water, or shelter.
One reindeer died after getting her antlers caught
in the chicken wire fence.
Cruelty cases
Roy A. Elliot, 21, Jason Tapper,
21, and Jan W. Pyatt Jr., 23, were charged
on August 22 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania,
with animal fighting, maiming another per-
son’s animal, and general cruelty to animals.
They allegedly acquired a free-to-good-home
Dalmatian, tied him to a tree with his mouth
taped shut, set Pyatt’s pit bull terrier on him,
and cut off his ears and tail before he died.
Frank Balun, 69, of Hillside, New
Jersey, on August 24 won acquittal as antici-
pated on nationally publicized cruelty charges
filed by Lee Bernstein of the Associated
Humane Societies, after Balun bludgeoned a
caged rat he’d trapped in his garden. Balun
has called for exempting rodents from the pro-
tection of anti-cruelty laws.
Convicted of torturing and killing
rabbits at Hazleton Research Products Inc., of
Texas Township, Michigan, in a case brought
to light by PETA, animal research technician
Steven Louis Stahr, 25, on July 14 drew 250
hours of community service, a counseling
order, and an order to make restitution of
$1,360 in fines and court costs. Hazleton fired
him hours after the conviction.
Illinois resident John Bousky was
ordered on July 27 to pay $5,000 in damages
to four residents of Green Hills, Tennessee,
whose cats he poisoned with antifreeze for
allegedly scratching his car. Bousky said he
meant to poison raccoons, but General
Sessions Court judge Penny Harrington didn’t
accept that as an excuse.
Brian Gilligan, 38, of Wadsworth,
O h i o , was convicted on July 28 of fourth
degree felony burglary for entering the garage
of Paul and Janice Parker to rescue an alleged-
ly neglected dog. The case was closely
watched because Gilligan contended unsuc-
cessfully that the Ohio humane law gave him
authority to take the dog even though he is not
a humane officer and had no warrant. Gilligan
said he would appeal.
