25 Dead Horses Found: Ranch Owner Arrested for Animal Cruelty
Published November 2, 2011
Flickr User jlwelsh
A California ranch owner has been arrested on charges of animal cruelty after 25 dead horses were found on his ranch.
Last week, authorities discovered 25 dead horses on a 54-acre California ranch owned by Dwight Bennett.
According to a news item published recently on CBS Sacramento, Bennett, the owner of Whispering Pines Ranch in Lassen County, was arrested on 30 counts of cruelty to animals after the remains of 25 horses and two dogs were found on his property.
Volunteers for The Grace Foundation, an animal rescue group from Northern California, described the scene as “the worst cases of animal cruelty they've witnessed."
“It was just a graveyard for horses," said Beth DeCaprio of the rescue group. "It was the worst case I had ever seen. There’s a price to pay when we forget about the innocent and the voiceless.”
Over the past several months, DeCaprio has assisted in the rescue of 56 horses from the Whispering Pines Ranch. These rescued horses are currently being housed at The Grace Foundation's ranch in El Dorado Hills.
In light of today's economy, it is an especially difficult task to re-home these horses. Making it even more difficult to find new homes for these horses is the fact that, following a thorough examination of these rescued horses, it was discovered that 18 of them (all under the age of three) were pregnant mares. As a result, there are even more equine survivors to care for and find homes for.
If the situation was not already dire enough, this daunting task of finding new homes for the horses is made even tougher since The Grace Foundation itself is “tight on cash."
In the past, horse lovers have certainly taken heroic actions and have stepped up to the plate when tragic acts have been uncovered. With the help of caring horse lovers around the world, $24,000 was raised to save 60 horses that were Mexico-bound to be slaughtered for meat after a Colorado woman raised awareness about their plight. One can only hope that the same might be done for The Grace Foundation.
For those wishing to learn more about or contribute to The Grace Foundation to help the horses rescued from Whispering Pines Ranch, please visit their website.
Over the last few years, it seems to me that there has been a considerable increase in news items concerning animal cruelty, specifically news items that highlight the full brutality of these crimes. Do you think this is because animal cruelty is finally being considered a serious crime that warrants this publicity? Share your views with a comment.
Shortly after retiring as a social worker and psychotherapist, I discovered my "writer's voice"…
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Comments (33)
I am an attorney and animal rescuer in NY, and I work with various rescue groups, incl one founded by a 21 year old to save horses headed for slaughter. Part of the increase in animal cruelty being considered a serious crime is the publicity. Part of it is that more and more people are realizing the connection between animal abuse and crimes against human violence. The rate is 100% in most cases-serial killers, DV perps, etc. We have a serial killer, maybe killerS, on Long Island and I bet when we do find him (or her but almost never is a woman), people will look back, as they always do, and say "oh, Rifkin, yes, everyone in our junior high knew he was killing squirrels then dogs then cats but as he became weirder in high school we avoided him as we saw him around town. Take a look at CAROLRYDERLAW.com for more abuse/violence connections (all verified by the courts' teachings-they are calling in DAs, attys, judges, social workers and others involved in DV and animal abuse to courts for courses on this)
I could kill that SOB are u people nuts justifying what he did? He should be starved-those animals SUFFERED!
Being starved is the least that should be done to this piece of human waste.
I think the lack of slaughter houses brings greater cruelty than it solves. This man lost his ranch, had no money and no way to either take care of his horses or to get rid of them. I blame CA law that does not allow slaughter for a lot of the current cases of animal cruelty by owners that are broke and unable to either sell or care for their equines. If it is a huge undertaking for a horse rescue to re-home these horses, think about a private owner, what would he be able to do? How would he come up with thousands to either humanely euthanize them or to find them homes?
I think he was in a corner and stuck. Did he make mistakes? Probably, but his options were limited.
We need HUMANE horse slaughter, it would HELP the horses.
I agree 100% on humane death and harvesting the meat for those in need
It is a hard situation for our society to handle. There are people that have horses and if they fall on hard times, they should be able to reach out to an organization or reach out for assistance or options instead of them suffering. I have two horses and have had them for over 21 years and yes they are not cheap to take care of. But I would work two jobs if I have to take good care of them till their end of life or where my vet suggests putting them down. They become part of your family and life and yes you can get attached to horses, they are much more to people than just livestock! They have more heart and loyalty to humans than some people. Animal cruelty should not be tolerated. It is the demise of our society when we let that occur and do nothing or better yet we become indiffernt to it. One person at a time is all that it takes and yes it can make a difference. It is better than no one caring and not one where the future younger generation sees what we allow to happen.
this story sucks, just a bad end with no story. were these just animals that had died for whatever reason but they not burying them? gross, but no burying law i know of.