From the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: A 68-year-old farmer accused of killing eight three-day-old puppies with a sledgehammer is facing felony charges in Marathon County Circuit Court.
Terrence Seubert of Dorchester is charged with eight counts of mistreatment of animals causing death, according to court records.
He told police he had no idea his Blue Heeler dog was going to have puppies until 10 were born, according to court documents. Two died from unknown causes before Seubert is accused of killing the other eight.
Seubert said he did not want a lot of dogs running around the farm and asked a lot of people whether they wanted them but found no takers, according to the documents. The caretaker of a farm on the property where the incident allegedly occurred told Seubert that the caretaker had found homes for most of the puppies either with the caretaker or the caretaker's brother up the road.
Seubert said he distracted the mother dog with food, gathered the puppies into a bucket and brought them to a shed next door. There, he hit them over the head with a sledgehammer and then placed them in a bucket of water, where he left them for about 20 minutes, according to court documents.
Seubert told police he thought the price quoted by a local veterinarian for spaying or neutering was too high. He said that was the first time he had euthanized puppies, according to court documents. http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/story/news/local/2014/09/10/man-accused-killing-puppies-sledgehammer-charged/15422617/
A couple of thoughts. My guess this guy has been farming and that is how they used to kill unwanted animals, especially cats and dogs, so in his mind, he didn't do anything wrong.
And in his mind, he didn't do anything different than what a vet would do in putting down unwanted dogs. The puppies probably didn't suffer much and when dogs and cats are put down in the pound, they don't suffer much either.
But these are different times and killing puppies this way is wrong. I don't think he should get prison time, unless he has a criminal record we don't know about, but he should get some kind of punishment
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I have three things to say about this case:
ReplyDeleteFirst, the man should not get a pass for not being able to afford getting his dog spayed. This man is far from poor. He owns "Seubert Feed N Stock" which according to ChamberofCommerce.com "has an annual sales volume of $1M – 1,999,999" and together with his sons he also owns "Seubert Calf Ranches" and "SCR Racing" with over 25 race cars (see http://www.seubertincwi.com/).
Second, this incident was part of a larger family dispute. According to the criminal complaint, it was one of his sons who bred his male black lab with this man's female blue heeler, and it was the son who was finding homes for the puppies, one of which his own daughter had picked out and already named (before her grandfather bludgeoned it to death with a sledge hammer). It was this son who alerted the authorities, so there is a whole family drama below the surface of this tragedy that points to more sinister motives for "doing away with the puppies" as the man so casually put it when he described what he did to the police.
Third, keep in mind the puppies were only 3 days old. They would not have been able to "run around the farm" which is what the man was trying to avoid. The puppies should not be taken from the mother for 6 to 8 weeks anyway, so the son should have been given more time to find homes for all of the puppies. Why was there such a rush to get rid of them and then to do so in such a violent manner?
There is much more to this story than we know. Still, I will make a prediction. Because this man already admitted everything to the police and evidence (including the sledge hammer) has been collected, there is no question of guilt. The only question is what kind of deal will this man's lawyers make with the DA to reduce the charges to misdemeanors that carry a fine and no jail time. He has the money and the resources to hire good attorneys and pay a hefty fine and have this case go away. My prediction is it will never get to a trial. He will make a guilty plea to cruelty with intent, a Class A misdemeanor, within the next 2 weeks, pay $10,000 in fines, and put this all behind him.