Expert: Jack Toomey - 1/5/2007

Question
Good Morning,
Last Sat. I went out to my barn and noticed the neighbors horse was down in the field. I kept an eye on her and went over when the neighbor came out to see if I could help (I own two horses of my own) He invited me over to look and I did. The horse was in very poor condition and looked starved and old. I told him he should get a vet and blanket her because of the cold and I left. The next day the horse was still on the ground and one of his renters called me upset about the condition of the horse and there was bad weather on its way and the owner was gone. I went up and checked her knowing she would never get up again and should have been attended to the day before. I called the neighbors answering machine and left a message saying I knew he wasn't home and was concerned about the horse esp. with the incoming expected weather of two inches of rain and she is exposed. I let him know I was going to bring two bales of my own straw and another blanket and hay for his other horses so I could attend to her properly without getting hurt by them -  that my intent was to get her up off the ground on the straw so the rain would drain away and make her as confortable as possible. In addition, a vet should be called as soon as posible. I then returned home and knew this was a case of cruely because an animal should not be left for three days in the exposed weather to die. I called and left messages with numerous agencies but it was New Year's eve so everyone was out. The next morning the horse was in awful condition according to the renter because my husband would not allow me to see how bad it was and the neighbor came down and and saw her and then decided to shoot her, which he did. It was done and over with and then the SPCA came out to follow up. They let me know he was very angry I called an agency at all and was planning to sue me for trespassing. Can he do that? He invited me in the first day and I notified him of my intent while he was gone the second day and even called later that night to thank me for what I did?? Just curious and worried that it is true "no good deed goes unpunished."
Thank you in advance for any advice you could give me.
Teri

Answer
Teri,

   This is a first for me.  I have personally put down several wild animals or ordered that they be put down but all were wild and either hit by cars or injured in some way.

   Lets start out with your question about a law suit.  Anyone can sue anyone else for any reason.  I could sue you because I didn't like your question but that doesn't mean I would win.  It would be probably dismissed at the first court appearance.  It has also been my experience that anyone who threatens to file a law suit never does.  Its the people who don't say a thing that end up getting attorneys and suing people.

  Second you asked about tresspasing.  All states have their own laws but generally to commit treaspassing you have to have a criminal intent and have to be warned (either verbally or by a sign) to stay off someones property.  It does not appear that is the case here and I would doubt that he would be successful in trying to charge you with that crime although as I said all states have different laws.

   My advice would be to document every thing you did by writing it down now.  Date, time, what you did, what you saw, your opinion of the horses health, etc.  You might think that you could later remember all of this but you would be surprised how quickly people forget the critical details.

  The last thing I would suggest is to contact the county agency or whoever takes care of animal cruelty enforcement in your area and tell them about what happened.  The SCPA does not have any statuatory authority to do anything.  They might conduct investigations but they are not professionals when it comes to investigations.