State police: It was "a farm gone bad"
May 21—The owners of a New Berlin farm, where around two dozen animals were found dead and more than 100 animals were removed from last month, have been charged with felony and misdemeanor animal cruelty.
On May 16, state police arrested four people in a connection with the case.
Dominick E. Brown, 44, and Jane M. Richards, 74, were each charged with nine counts of felony of aggravated cruelty to animals.
Additionally, Brown was charged with 95 misdemeanor counts of overdriving, torturing and injuring animals and failure to provide proper sustenance.
Richards was charged with 87 counts of the same misdemeanor offenses.
Helen F. Goude, 56, and Katheriena M. Goude, 60, were each charged with two counts of felony aggravated cruelty to animals and three counts of misdemeanor overdriving, torturing and injuring animals and failure to provide proper sustenance.
Each has been charged under the Agriculture and Markets Law. The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned in New Berlin Town Court on Wednesday, May 22.
State police served a search warrant at properties on Clark Lane and Pig Farm Lane on Friday, April 26, after a weeklong investigation by law enforcement into a complaint called into the SQSPCA about animal neglect and abuse on the property.
The rescue efforts were led by local law enforcement and Chenango County and Susquehanna SPCAs, who worked together to remove more than 100 animals, including horses, donkeys, swine, cattle, sheep, goats, a llama, dogs and cats.
Many of animals were in severe need of medical care. The Chenango County SPCA took in 21 cats, while the SQSPCA took possession of all the farm animals and dogs, one mother cat and her kittens. The farm animals are being boarded privately.
Susquehanna SPCA Executive Director Stacie Haynes and New York State Police Capt. Marc Barbera updated the public on the investigation Tuesday, May 21 at the SQSPCA just outside Cooperstown.
They both touched on the sheer scale of the situation.
Barbera said the police investigation indicated that the property owners were under the belief that the animals were being taken care of, and therefore didn't reach out for help.
"It's just a farm gone bad," he said. "We were told that at one point, that was a pig farm that was doing very well. At some point there was a fire, and then I think a death in the family. But it seems like at that point is when things started going kind of downhill."
It's also why the animals have not been surrendered legally by the owner yet, Haynes said.
During the 12-hour rescue operation in April, an excavator was brought onto the property to bury dead animals.
This was one of the expenses that led to the SQSPCA spending more than $30,000 on the rescue operation.
Despite the cost, Haynes said that the efforts of law enforcement and the SQSPCA veterinarians was "100% worth it."
"All this hard work and money spent has been worth it to rescue these animals and relieve them of their unnecessary pain and suffering," she said.
The successful rescue highlights the importance of coordination and quick action in these situations, she said, citing the efforts of veterinary doctors Jenny Lukovsky and Christine Schneider.
Some animals remained on the property, including a few cows. Five peacocks wouldn't come down from trees, and some sheep wouldn't leave the woods of a nearby state park where they have established a colony, Haynes said.
The Chenango County district attorney has vowed to prosecute the charges to the fullest extent of the law, Barbera said.
Barbera credited State Police Trooper Karley Davenport for her leadership in the case.
