terrie_mavros asked this question on 2/6/2000:

Does anyone know anything about animal rights? 90 animals were taken by the SPCA in N.H.from a trailer-filthy,some found dead,all in really bad shape. SPCA court ordered to provide minimum care for the animals.Lady who neglected them has attorney on her side. What are the chances that she will get the animals back?? Animals were severely neglected.

Fr_Chuck gave this response on 2/12/2000:

I hope the other two people are correct but I have been envolved in a couple of cases and in both cases the people got the dogs back. It would appear that there was no real concern by the county ( who has to pay for the trial and pay to keep the animals while trial is going on since there will be an injuntion so that the animals can not be gotten rid of or found a home till the trial is over) these trials can get costly, experts on what is neglect, what evidence was taken, animal weights, photos or nothing really recorded like a real crime scene. What I have seen is that the cities or counties do not take this serious at the start and then no good or legal evidence is available, there may be "proof" but unless it is legal , chain of custody and all the items needed for any other trial. it can not be used.

terrie_mavros asked this follow-up question on 2/13/2000:

The county doesnt have the animals the NHSPCA has them,so they arent paying for their care. There have been photos taken and a vet has written to the court and said that it was the worst case of neglect he had ever seen.Some animals were dead when the SPCA got there,others have died since being takenm-they were starved.

The lady has alot of people on her side,some are breeders that sold her the birds.

now what are your thoughts?

Fr_Chuck gave this response on 2/13/2000:

the SPCA is still just a organization, the case will still have to be prosecuted by the country or state court, I do not know much about the NH laws on animal cruelty but most of the states I am familuar with have in most cases vague laws open for interpertation

While I have seen some prosecution of things like this usually only the cases that get alot of media attention ever really get any action and of those most are usually just a slap on the wrist.

Then the other issue is the right of the state to take away the property of another. Most animal rescues that I have been involved with have usually been done illigally even though we had the sheriff's department with us, since no court order was recieved pior to entry. both a court order to enter the property and a court order to secure some ones personal property. I rescued a "stray" dog from a school yard where the school called the sheriffs office, they called me since they did not have anyone to do this. I saved the dog, but in the city pound, only place to put him, the dog it turned out belonged to a teacher the dog was on medication and latter died because he had not gotten his medication ( we were unaware of the need for medication, vet examimed but did not see need) Can I tell you about that law suit, they won against the city, against the school, and me personally

yes I believe the animails are better off, and they needed to be taken away , but in most of the cases I have been involved with the animals are usually the losers. Hopefully they followed all the search and seziure laws, if they did not, all of the evidence they obtained will not be able to be used. Being guilty and being convicted is alot different in our crimianal justice system

We need to see tougher and more clear laws on animal treatment. But then we have to also clarify which animals we are talking about. Lots of difference from a rabbit in a cage being bread to a wild rabbit that a hunter is shooting, where is the line drawn

terrie_mavros rated this answer a 3.