THE COURT: Okay, back on the record of People versus James Henderson, 073772FY, and Matthew Patrick Mercier, 073773FY. The attorneys and the gentlemen, the defendants are present. Your next witness, Miss Lamp, if you’re ready.
MS. LAMP: Yes, Your Honor. The People call Vicki Chickering to the stand.
THE COURT: Do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you will give at this hearing will be the truth, so help you God?
DR. CHICKERING: I do.
THE COURT: Come on around, watch your step. The chair is on rollers, so be careful. The microphone’s not going to make you any louder, so make sure you speak up loudly and distinctly for us.
THE WITNESS: Okay.
THE COURT: State your full name.
THE WITNESS: Vicki Sue Chickering.
THE COURT: How do you spell Vicki?
THE WITNESS: V-i-c-k-i.
THE COURT: And your last name please?
THE WITNESS: C-h-i-c—k-e-r-i-n-g.
THE COURT: Thank you very much. Miss Lamp, when you’re ready.
MS. LAMP: Your Honor, if I may, I have some exhibits that will be used and I’d like to just give them to Dr. Chickering and I’ll move to admit them as appropriate during her testimony.
THE COURT: Okay.
VICKIE
SUE CHICKERING, DVM
Called at 2:09 p.m. by the People, sworn by the court, testified:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. What is your profession, Dr. Chickering?
A. I’m a field staff veterinarian with the Michigan Department of Agriculture.
Q. And how long have you been a licensed veterinarian?
A. For thirty-one years.
Q. Okay. And how long have you been with the Department of Agriculture?
A. Seventeen years.
Q. As a field veterinarian?
A. Yes.
Q. And what did you do prior to becoming a field veterinarian?
A. I was in private practice for fourteen years, eleven years of that as a, owning the Midland Large Animal Clinic where I was primarily an equine veterinarian.
Q. And did you go through any schooling to become a veterinarian?
A.
I graduated from
Q. And did you receive any additional training after going through school?
A. I’ve been trained by the Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture as a foreign animal disease diagnostician.
MS. LAMP: Okay. And I think that covers my preliminary questions. I would move to qualify the witness as an expert witness in the field of equine veterinary medicine as well as a field veterinarian.
THE COURT: Okay. Gentlemen, any questions?
MR. DUNGAN: Just to get some details.
THE COURT: Go ahead.
VOIR DIRE EXAMINATION (At 2:10 p.m.)
BY MR. DUNGAN:
Q. Is it Dr. Chickering?
A. Yes.
Q. You’ve been a field vet for seventeen years with the Department of Agriculture?
A. Correct.
Q. What are your duties as field vet?
A.
Basically I am assigned to work in primarily seven counties in the
middle of the state of
Q. And field means you go out to the field.
A. Yes. Basically I work out of a home office and take care of all the animal industry activities within my vicinity, as well as whatever other emergencies and what other areas we may be called in to do extra duty.
Q. All right. You understand you’re here today on a horse farm case involving sixty-nine horses.
A. Yes.
Q. All right. How many similar cases have you had like this in your seventeen years as a field veterinarian?
A. One of our regular field staff duties is to work with the right to farm organi--or part of the Department of Agriculture and that also often gets us involved in animal care cases, and most of those cases where we’re called out to deal with animal care issues are resolved on farm working with the owner and Animal Control, however, I have been involved in probably two cases that have actually just gone to court.
Q. Two cases like this one?
A. That have actually gone to court, to have to be resolved. We’ve resolved most of the others on farm.
Q. How does that work where you resolve it on the farm?
A. Basically if the animals are in a situation that we believe that they can be left in the care of the owner and the owner can be, with the supervision of animal control, be allowed to take care of the animals and the animals can be brought back to normal conditions, that may work. It depends on the court, it depends on the condition of the animals, it depends on the owner, it depends on---
A. Whose decision is that?
A. Usually Animal Control’s.
Q. Okay. I haven’t been asking great questions all day. What I was trying to figure out is, I understand you’ve only been to court twice on similar cases like this involving horses?
A. That I can recall.
Q. Okay. And then how many investigations of, of horse ranches like this have you been involved in that did not go to court?
A. That did not go to court?
Q. Yeah.
A. Probably five to six a year in my opinion.
Q. And then I think you mentioned before the Department of Agriculture that you’ve been a private practicing veterinarian.
A. Yes.
Q.
With the first eleven years at
A. My very first three years I worked in Coleman at the Coleman Veterinary Clinic, then I established my own equine practice for the following eleven years before joining the Department of Agriculture.
Q. Okay. So eleven years specializing in horses.
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. Do you own horses yourself?
A. Yes, I do.
MR. DUNGAN: Okay, all right. I don’t have any other questions about her background, Your Honor, thank you.
THE COURT: Mr. Hurst, do you have questions?
MR. HURST: Just a couple.
THE COURT: Sure.
VOIR DIRE EXAMINATION (At 2:13 p.m.)
BY MR. HURST:
Q. These two cases that you were involved in that went to court, what counties were they located in?
A.
Q. Okay. And did either one of those cases involve the group, Leelanau Horse Rescue?
A. No.
Q. Okay. Are you familiar with that organization?
A. I was not until I became involved in this particular case.
MR. HURST: Okay. I have no further questions.
THE COURT: Any comments on Miss Lamp’s request for qualifications to testify in this area?
MR. DUNGAN: No, sir.
MR. HURST: No objection.
THE COURT: We’ll allow her to testify in this area. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Lamp. Go ahead.
MS. LAMP: Thank you, Your Honor.
THE COURT: You’re welcome.
DIRECT EXAMINATION CONTINUED(At 2:14 p.m.)
BY MS. LAMP:
Q.
Dr. Chickering, did you have occasion then to respond to the horse farm
at
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And how did you happen to arrive there at that farm?
A. A call came in to the Michigan Department of Agriculture which was then forwarded on to me. My supervisor, Dr. Remick, asked me to become involved and to come down and meet with the Animal Control officers and go to the farm as a consultant.
Q. Okay. And did you do that on the twentieth of March of this year?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And what were your initial observations upon coming on to the farm?
A. Initially when I entered the property I immediately saw areas of concern with safety of the horses. There obviously were a large number of horses on the property, a lot of safety issues that I immediately observed; fences down, wires on the ground, boards, nails sticking out, sheet metal, buildings improperly repaired, falling down, miscellaneous conditions that obviously were safety issues. And as we observed the horses, observed some of the horses to be in extreme states of very poor condition. Many of the animals appeared to be, have, potentially have internal and external parasites, many concerning issues and a horse that had a severe injury that I see you have photographs of here also, that needed veterinary care. So multiple areas of concern.
Q. Okay. And did you observe a dead horse when you came on to the farm?
A. Yes, I did. The horse at that time was in a trailer on the property.
Q. Okay. And was there anything unusual about that?
A. The animal had obviously been dead for a long period of time and one of the laws that the Department of Agriculture particularly works with is the Body of Dead Animals act, and that requires that every animal that dies be properly disposed of within twenty-four hours, and obviously this animal had been dead much longer than the required twenty-four hours with which to get it buried.
Q. Could you tell approximately how long the animal had been dead?
A. Well, multiple days. There had been decomposition in the destruction of the carcass, the eyes had deteriorated, some damage around the rectum. Obviously several days.
Q. And even if the, does it matter if the horse is on the ground or in the trailer in terms of violating the Burial of the Dead Bodies Act that you normally deal with?
A. No. The animal has to be properly disposed of within twenty-four hours. Proper disposal can be burial, it can be rendering. Those are the two most likely options with horses in this day and age.
Q. What does rendering mean?
A. Be picked up by a licensed dead animal dealer and taken to a plant where it will be processed and properly disposed of. Oftentimes they use them, the products, for food, animal, other animal products, for fertilizers.
Q. Okay. And did you body score the animal while you were there?
A. I observed the horses on the property. I was not there in the capacity to individually examine each animal. But we very broadly looked over the group of animals and from visually inspecting them we classified several of the animals as the body condition score.
Q. Okay. And so that’s without a physical examination?
A. Right. We did not do a specific individual physical examination on individual animals.
Q. And what I mean when I’m saying physical, you didn’t touch the animals to feel them or—-
A. No.
Q. Okay. Evaluate them that way. The visual observation?
A. A visual observation.
Q. Okay. And what scores did you come up with?
A. Well, there were three horses on the property that were in a condition that would be considered emaciated. They were very poor. On a scale, on a standard body condition scale of one to nine we would barely give them a one in my opinion. They were very thin and in very poor condition. There were a group of young horses in the barn, several of which were in the two to three category that were in the very thin to thin categories. There were some horses that were out in the field that were also very thin. So there were eight to ten probably that were in that very thin condition, the remaining of the horses being thin to moderate. Some horses were normal body condition.
Q. And did you observe the horses in the barn?
A. Yes.
Q. Could you describe that please?
A. Well, there were two stallions in individual pens in the barn and then there was a larger pen with a group of young horses, it was hard to determine age because of shape and condition of those animals, but they were in a group pen. The pen, you have some pictures of it down here, was, obviously had not been cleaned recently. There was debris the horses were walking over, downed lumber, downed panels. Those horses were, some of the poorer animals especially the young animals would definitely be down in that body condition score of two to three.
Q. Could you describe the water situation that you observed on the farm?
A. There were multiple water tanks located around the farm. Out in the barn there were actually water in most of the containers. There was water available in each of the stalls in a container, although the water in the stall for the young horses, I was a little bit concerned because it was in a fairly deep barrel and I’m not sure the younger, smaller horses could reach the bottom of the barrel. But there was water in the stalls in the barn. Outside there were a lot of empty water tanks and none of those seemed to contain any water, however, there was one tank farther back on the property that was kind of back through a couple, through a gate and a little bit harder access, but it did have some water on it, or in it, however, the water was frozen over with a fairly thin skim of ice which indicated to me that the animals hadn’t been drinking out of that tank. And so as we explored the property farther we found a running stream on the back of the property that was obviously the water source that the horses had been using.
Q. And when you say obvious, why was it obvious?
A. Well, because there were a lot of tracks leading down to that water source and when you have sixteen--well, forty-nine horses out in a pen with only one water source and there’s, that water source has not been depleted, there obviously is another place that they’re drinking water and that was the only other available water. And with all of the fresh prints around the water source, that’s a logical conclusion.
Q. Okay. And Doctor, when you described the water tank that had the thin coat of ice on it as I think you said harder to access.
A. Yes.
Q. What was hard about accessing that water tank?
A. Oh, just because it was located in an area where the horses would have had to go through less desirable type of topography to get back to it. They would have had to have gone through a gate, the ground back there was semi frozen, very rough, very difficult for horses to walk through, that they could have access to it, they could have gotten back there, but it was not easy for them to get back there.
Q. Okay. And what about the quality of the food available on the farm?
A. The horses in the barn had some nice it would be grass, probably some alfalfa hay they had access to that each of them obviously had been fed. The three very thin horses that were in very poor condition also had some of that rather okay looking hay out in their pasture. There were seven or eight semi broken bales of that kind of hay stored in the barn, so obviously some horses were getting that food. The horses out in the large fields, the large number of horses were, it appeared had being fed large round bales of hay. From the evidence that was there, the hay was of very poor condition, had a lot of oak leaves, very stemmy, had mold, just very poor quality hay. There was one quite a better quality hay, round bale of hay out there still wrapped which makes access a little bit difficult, but also very course, relatively poor quality hay.
Q. Now, when you talk about the wrapping of the bale, is there some standard that we usually use in the horse farm industry where they would un-bale it or unwrap it?
A. Basically for safety reasons all bale wraps and bale string should be removed and taken out of horse pasture areas. Horses are inquisitive animals and they will play and chew and gnaw on things. They’ve been known to produce intestinal difficulties if they’re ingested by the horses, as well as it’s possible for their feet to get wrapped in them and do serious damage.
Q. Okay. And how about the quantity of the food that you saw at the farm on that day?
A. There certainly was not enough quantity of hay either in storage or in the pastures for the number of horses there at the time and the horses were obviously hungry, they were picking at the ground, picking at everything of any quality, even though it was bad, they were still picking at it and obviously looking for food.
Q. Were there any other concerns you had about the horses at that time that you haven’t already testified to that you recall?
A. Basically I was concerned primarily about the plane of nutrition, especially with the young growing horses. They are in a category that would need additional feed, as well pregnant mares also need a higher plane of nutrition. We observed one mare, a paint mare that was on the property that had obviously just given birth to a foal. She was in discomfort, she was experiencing what appeared to be mild signs of colic, probably from uterine involution from foaling, and later on we observed a dead foal farther out in the pasture which we had to surmise was from that mare. She was obviously in need of some veterinary care.
Q. Okay. And do you believe on the day that you were there that there was adequate food provided for the horses?
A. Not at the time we were there.
Q. Okay. And do you believe that there was adequate water for the horses if you were to exclude the stream?
A. No.
Q. If you were to include the stream, would that be a different opinion?
A. If you include the stream. The problem is I have no idea of the quality of the water that was running through the stream.
Q. Okay.
A. So I can’t say whether that would be an adequate water source or not.
Q. Okay. And let me ask you if you felt that there was adequate shelter for the sixty-nine horses there on the farm.
A. No. The standard of care for shelter that we use comes from the generally accepted animal management practices put out by the Department of Agriculture which requires that animals have shelter to protect them from rain, wind, weather, and that all animals need to be able to have access to that shelter at any given time, and the buildings at that point were not adequate to house all those animals or to keep all those animals sheltered.
Q. And can a tree line sometimes count as a shelter?
A.
A wood lot according to the GAMPS can be considered a shelter because it
might provide enough of a complex pattern of trees to block wind and would have
enough cover for shade. A standard tree
line usually would not be thick enough.
The tree line to the west which
Q. Okay. Did you observe some issues of safety as far as the horses trying to access the stream or ditch there at the back of the property?
A. There were a lot of fencing issues with fence posts sitting out there. One of the things that really concerned me, there were some bent and broken fence posts that were sitting out there that would create a fence--if the horse were suddenly challenged and had to move away quickly it could provide a, or produce a very nasty injury.
Q. And—-
A. As well as it being, you know, slippery and, and difficult to get down the slope, but the wire, or the posts were my biggest concern back in that particular area.
Q. When you say slippery to get down the slope, so they would have to go down lower to get to the water source down there?
A. It was a very steep slope.
Q. Okay.
A. But most horses could negotiate it.
Q. And what was slippery about it?
A. Oh, just that the ground was rough and any time you get close to a stream and you’re going down a steep embankment it can be difficult to maneuver that.
Q. Okay. Now, Dr. Chickering, you have some photographs there that are marked. Are there any of those that you think you would like to draw to the court’s attention to illustrate your observations there on the farm on the day that you were there?
A. Well, actually photograph sixteen shows the condition of the three horses that body scored the lowest and I think they are pretty self explanatory, the condition of those animals.
THE COURT: What’s the source of this photograph? Did you take these photographs?
THE WITNESS: Yes, I did.
THE
COURT: Okay. And they reasonably, all of them reasonably
and accurately depict the farm as you found it on the day you were there?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: March something?
MS. LAMP: March twentieth.
THE WITNESS: March twentieth.
THE COURT: Okay. Have you gentlemen seen the photographs?
MR. DUNGAN: Yes, we’ve seen them.
THE COURT: Any objections? I don’t know what the numbers are. What numbers are we talking about?
MS. LAMP: Sixteen through….
THE WITNESS: Twenty-six.
THE COURT: Eleven pictures. You’re okay with those eleven, gentlemen?
MR. HURST: Yes.
MR. DUNGAN: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Sixteen through twenty-six is admitted.
(At 2:28 p.m. PX 16 through 26, inclusive, admitted)
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. Dr. Chickering, I’m going to just hand these to the judge. If you can just explain what they’re depicting as I’m giving them to him.
A. Okay. Those are the three horses that the body condition scored one which is extremely thin and emaciated.
Q. And that includes the grulla mare?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay.
A. Seventeen is a photo of horses rummaging through what’s left of a round bale of hay that was provided, and this obviously shows the, little bit difficult to see, but basically it contained a lot of leaves, almost more leaves than, than hay, and oak leaves are not really considered a very nutritious food source for horses. Eighteen depicts a lot of the bale wrappings, twine that’s left out in the field, as well as the condition of one of the supposed shelters which has multiple sheet metal protrusions that can be dangerous, as well as downed broken boards and a missing roof. Nineteen shows the condition of the area around the stream with a protruding fence, metal fence post sticking up, as well as one on the ground that could be stepped on, and the obvious hoof prints around that show the animals are getting down to the stream for water. Twenty is a picture of the horses that were, the younger horses that were housed in the barn and certainly just shows the condition of the hair coat of these horses, classic internal-external parasite infestations are usually manifested by long, brittle, dry hair coats, oftentimes have a pot bellied appearance and hair patches will be missing, especially with a external lice infection where they’ve rubbed off the hair coat from the lice. Twenty-one kind of is the, exhibits the same characteristics as well as the manure matted coat on these animals from being housed in a unclean environment. Twenty-two is an example of the condition of the inside area of the barn. This is not an area that the animals have access to, but shows drug containers, medication syringes, insecticide, oil containers that have all just been strewn around the property, around the barn. Picture twenty-three is a photograph of an injury that appears to be a wire cut, again on one of the horses in the barn, and again, you can see the condition of the floor in the barn, it’s manure covered. This shows a wound that is not a fresh wound, it has granulation tissue and a beginning healing edge of skin, but it has, does not show much care and obviously needs continued veterinary care to solve this. There may have been we surmised a wire in that wound at the time but we needed a veterinary to have that examined. Picture twenty-four is another picture of the same horse with the injury. Again you can see the condition of, of the floor, the matted manure hair coats on these horses, as well as the wood, a wood panel that has just fallen down and is on the ground where the horses are walking on it, which is again a safety issue. Twenty-five is one of, a picture of an empty water tank which is just one of the many water tanks that were scattered around the area that were not containing water at that time. And twenty-six is the photo of the paint mare that had given birth either late that night or earlier that morning. It was in poor body condition as well as covered with, her hind quarters covered with blood from having the foal. She was up at that point although later on when I took another photo she was down showing symptoms of colic.
Q. Dr. Chickering, based on your observations there at the farm on that day, could you provide an opinion as to the length of time that this inadequate operation had been going on, how long these horses had been neglected?
A. Well, obviously the conditions in the barns and around the facility had been there for a long time, it had deteriorated over time. The poor buildings, all of the building materials around had been there obviously for a long time. The physical condition of the horses, especially the three that were so emaciated is a fairly long term situation, definitely months it would take for horses to get into that kind of a body condition. The young horses in the barn were also in poor enough condition that it was something that would have taken probably months and who knows if they were ever really in good body condition to go through, but this was not a, this was a fairly longstanding problem.
Q. So months would be an appropriate approximation?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, let me ask you. Did you return to the farm at a later time?
A. Yes.
Q. When did that occur approximately?
A. May tenth I returned to the farm.
Q. And what was the purpose?
A. To give Animal Control insight into how they were doing, what the condition of the animals were and the facility at that time with the improvements that had been made.
Q. And what observations did you make when you returned to the farm?
A. A lot of work had been done on the farm. Most the debris, all of the debris had been cleaned out of the horse housing areas, new fences had been put up, old fencing had been removed, buildings had been repaired. Although there was still a large manure pile out behind the building, it was being removed, they were working on it as I was there. All the animals that I observed had access to food, water, had salt. The animals had, that I had suggested had needed veterinary care, the thin horses, the horse with the leg injury was healing well, it had obviously been treated by this time and was doing well. All the horses seemed to have improved in overall body condition. Animal Control reported that they had wormed the horses several times, de-wormed the horses several times. The stalls in the barn had been improved, rebuilt so that they had foaling stalls, stallion stalls had been improved and maintained, put new gates on them, then a place of entry and exit. Basically overall conditions on all levels had improved significantly.
MS. LAMP: Thank you. I don’t have any further questions but the other attorneys may have some for you.
THE
COURT: Do you have some questions, Mr.
Dungan?
CROSS-EXAMINATION(At 2:35 p.m.)
BY MR. DUNGAN:
Q. Dr. Chickering, I want to ask you some questions about some of the photos that you showed to the judge. That number seventeen photo that showed the horses eating some hay which you didn’t seem to think a whole lot about because they had some leaves mixed in with it.
A. It was just very poor quality hay.
Q. And obviously that’s what’s left of the round bale, right?
A. Correct.
Q. And we don’t know if before you got there, there was one round bale, two round bales, or five. Correct?
A. I observed what appeared to be one almost intact round bale in another pen of this type of hay, and the entire bale was of the same material.
Q. Okay. But my question was, what you saw out there that showed in the picture you don’t know what else was out there before they got eaten first.
A. Correct.
Q. All right. The photo that concerned number eighteen, the bale wrappings. Is it your understanding that when you put a round bale out, you leave the wrapping on?
A. You remove the material and you take it out of the animal housing area. You do not leave the animals access to the wrapping.
Q. Okay. So if a veterinarian came in here and said it’s actually a good idea to leave that on because it keeps the hay all together, keeps it in one place for the horses and it doesn’t get trampled down to where it’s not good for them to eat, you would disagree with that?
A. Absolutely.
Q. All right. Number nineteen, you said was a picture of the stream that showed a potentially dangerous fence post.
A. Yes.
Q. All right. While you were on that farm did you observe any injuries caused by that potentially dangerous fence post?
A. No, I did not.
Q. Pictures twenty-three and twenty-four concern the horse that had the rather serious leg injury. Is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. The lacerations.
A. Yes.
Q. And those were taken on March twentieth?
A. March twentieth.
Q. 2007.
A. Yes.
Q. All right. Can you see-—we know that injury is caused by wire, right?
A. That was pretty obvious, yes.
Q. In those photographs that you took on that date, can you see wire in that wound?
A. No. I surmised that the wounds were made by wire—-
Q. No, I agree that they were.
A. And I suggested that they have veterinary--
Q. We’re not arguing about that. I just want to know if those pictures depict wire.
A. I did not see, obviously did not see the wire in the leg with my observation. But I didn’t handle the horse’s leg. We didn’t attach them by a halter and inspect the leg.
THE COURT: How close did you get to the horse?
THE WITNESS: Um…
THE COURT: At your nearest point.
THE WITNESS: Four feet maybe from the leg itself, four, five feet. I mean, I walked up next to the horse to take this photograph, to take twenty-three.
THE COURT: Did you go around the horse?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: You could see the leg.
THE WITNESS: I did not see the leg. The, when I say I went around the horse, we mulled, the horses mulled around as we were trying to get a photograph of the leg, but did I actually walk around the horse, no, but the horse moved around as we observed it.
BY MR. DUNGAN:
Q. If there was wire wrapped around the outside of that wound, you’d have seen it?
A. If it were wrapped around the outside of the wound, my concern was it was embedded in the wound.
Q. No, I know. But if it was wrapped around the outside, would you have seen it?
A. Probably.
Q. Or if there was a one or two inch piece sticking out of the wound, would you have seen it?
A. (No audible response)
Q. And it would probably be in the photos too, wouldn’t it?
A. Yeah. Because of the conditions, it was very dark, there was a lot of manure in the stall, it was very difficult, but I did not, like I say, closely inspect the wound.
Q. All right. Now, you said that it would take a number of months to, for these conditions to develop.
A. For the horses who were the most severely affected to get down in that body condition, yes.
Q. How many is a number of months?
A. Every horse is different with what their body metabolism is and, and how much food they require and how long it would take them to lose weight. There’s a huge variety in species and breeds of horses as to what, how fast they gain or lose weight. Certainly--
Q. Is this getting to where you just can’t give me an estimate? I mean, I just want to know—-
MS. LAMP: Your Honor, I’m going to object. If he’s going to ask the question, he ought to let her finish it.
MR. DUNGAN: Well, I just want to know by months. If you can’t give it because there’s too many variables, that’s fine.
THE COURT: Too many variables to give a number of months?
THE WITNESS: There are just a lot of variables. Certainly a horse is not going to go down in three to four months, a horse is not going to go from fat to emaciated, it’s going to take a, a significant amount of time.
THE COURT: What would be the minimum to reach the state that you saw?
THE WITNESS: I--
THE COURT: Can’t say that either?
THE WITNESS: I really can’t say. There are too many factors –-
THE COURT: Would one month be right?
THE WITNESS: Pardon?
THE COURT: One month?
THE WITNESS: The horse could get down to the condition of the three horses? No. A horse would not deteriorate from a normal condition horse to that condition in--
THE COURT: Two months?
THE WITNESS: --in less than--you’re asking me to put numbers on something that’s very difficult to determine. It certainly--
THE COURT: You almost got there when you—-
MR. DUNGAN: You had it narrowed down.
THE WITNESS: Yeah, I know, and it would be, just be a speculation on my part.
THE COURT: You’re an expert. Go ahead.
THE WITNESS: I would think it would take a horse to get down from normal condition to that a minimum of four months.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Dungan.
THE WITNESS: And that would be a minimum. And depending on the metabolism of the horses.
THE COURT: Sure. Conditions, sure.
THE WITNESS: Lots of factors.
BY MR. DUNGAN:
Q. All right. Of all the horses that you saw on the farm, there were just three that had a body condition score of one. Is that correct?
A. Of the ones that I observed. We observed the horses from a distance. The young horses that were in the barn we did not put our hands on and do a body condition score by manipulation, by feeling those horses. They all had a very thick heavy hair coat and so we, we, I guesstimated those body condition scores of those horses to be down in two to three.
Q. Let me ask you a better question. You prepared a report in this matter, is that correct?
A. Correct.
Q. And in that report you summarized what you did out on this farm on March twenty of 2007?
A. Correct.
Q. Is the information in the report accurate?
A. To the best of my knowledge.
Q. Okay. In the report you stated that there were sixty-nine horses on the premises. Is that correct?
A. That’s how we counted them.
Q. And that’s still true today, right?
A. I don’t know what’s on the farm today.
Q. You said in your report that of the sixty-nine horses, three of the horses had BCS’s of one, true?
A. Yes.
Q. There were eight to ten other horses had BCS’s of two to three. True?
A. Yes.
Q. All the remaining horses were scoring out four to five. Correct?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. Four to five is normal, no problems.
A. Four is thin, five is moderate. Four is a little on the thin side. You could maybe see a little rib. But five was an average.
Q. Four to five is nothing that’s going to cause you any great concern.
A. Correct.
Q. All right. Now, as far as the provision of food at that farm. Did you have a chance to talk with the caretaker to ask him what his feeding management plan was?
A. As we were leaving, one of the apparent owners of the horses came up and talked with us briefly as—-
Q. Do you see him here today?
A. -–I was leaving. I only saw him for a very brief time.
Q. Is it this guy or this guy?
A. I believe the person to the right.
Q. Okay. You had a chance to talk to him?
A. Briefly as we were packing up and leaving.
Q. What did he tell you?
A. Basically he gave some instances or some I guess reasons why some issues were the way they were. He mentioned an ice storm having been a problem with damaging some of the fencing. He mentioned that one of the mares that was in particular poor condition had a bout of colic later, or earlier in the winter that he thought might be a reason for some of her loss of body condition. He mentioned that the others had probably gotten away from him a little bit, that had gotten, been on him before he was aware of it.
Q. Did he tell you what his food and water regimen was for the farm?
A. I do not clearly remember that part of the conversation.
Q. Did anybody give you any information about what his regular routine was for providing food and water to those horses?
A. I don’t believe I was aware of what his normal routine would be.
Q. So you really got to figure it out just based on what you see for your couple hours walking around there. Right?
A. Correct.
Q. I mean, for example, if you’re out there in the afternoon, you don’t know if Matt was out there in the morning with hay and water, right?
A. Correct.
Q. And you don’t know if he’s coming back that night after you’re gone.
A. Correct.
Q. The best you can do is give us your opinion for whatever value that’s going to have based on what you see going out there.
Q. Right. And the condition, the resulting condition of the animals from that management.
Q. First to acknowledge there may be a lot going on out there that you just don’t know about.
A That’s possible.
Q. And same thing with the water tanks. I mean, I know you see some things that you’re calling water tanks. Some of those things you’re calling water tanks could be used for things other than storing water. Correct?
A. Correct.
Q. I mean, simply because you see an empty water tank, doesn’t mean we’re dehydrating the whole herd, that could be a tank that’s used for something other than holding water.
A. Yes.
Q. You know, for example, when you answered a question in response to the prosecutor that there wasn’t adequate food at the farm. I mean, again, just based on this little snapshot of time that you’re out there, right?
A. At the time I was out there, correct. However, the condition of the animals would lead one to believe the food has not been adequate for a period of time.
Q. Or there’s some other issues with the horses.
A. Or there are some other issues. We, one of the recommendations was that they have a private practitioner veterinarian examine these horses and determine health conditions.
MR. DUNGAN: Judge, that’s all the questions I have for now.
THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Hurst?
MR. HURST: Just briefly, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Sure.
CROSS-EXAMINATION(At 2:46 p.m.)
BY MR. HURST:
Q. So was it one of your recommendations that a private practicing veterinarian examine those four horses and do a physical examination of those horses?
A. Basically examine all the animals and develop a potential herd health plan, deal with the parasite, potential parasite infestations, and treat those animals that needed immediate attention which certainly immediately the wound, horse with the wound, the paint mare that had just foaled and the horses in the worst body condition needed immediate attention.
Q. And you went back to the scene on May tenth of 2007, is that correct?
A. May tenth, yes.
Q. Was that to determine whether or not all of your recommendations had been complied with by the Animal Control people?
A. It’s to evaluate what improvements had been made since I was there.
Q. And were you able to determine whether or not animal control or anyone acting on their behalf had done a thorough physical examination of those four horses you mentioned?
A. I questioned Animal Control as to what had been done with the animals and they had said that they provided veterinary care. They had a farrier and an equine dentist scheduled to also examine the animals to try to solve any issues, or resolve any issues from teeth—-
Q. And you testified that in all your years at the state, seventeen years I believe, that you’ve only been involved in two cases like this one where the case went to court such as with criminal charges. Is that correct?
A. That I can recall, yes.
Q. All right. And you indicate that most of these cases are resolved by the animals being kept by the owners with the understanding that a plan is put into effect that restores the animals to their health and maintains their health. Is that right?
A. Or a plea bargain is reached ahead of time where the case doesn’t go to court and the animals are dispersed.
Q. And, but you also indicated that the decision on whether or not that would occur is usually made by the animal control department of the county. Is that right?
A. I believe in conjunction with their prosecuting attorney’s office.
Q.
So that’s means that the state of
A. Yes.
MR. HURST: I have no further questions, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Miss Lamp?
MS. LAMP: Just a couple, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Sure.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION (At 2:48 p.m.)
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. Dr. Chickering, if for that amount of horses that was there on the date you were there, would you expect to see some food stored or hay stored somewhere there on the farm?
A. Usually that’s the case. Usually there’s a, a several day if not all year storage on the farm just for ease of animal care.
Q. Okay. And let me ask you, you know, there are sixty-nine horses. I mean, how many bales of hay are you going to go through on a daily basis?
A. It depends on how you’re defining bales and what quality the food is.
Q. Okay.
A. There’s a large variation in quality of hay out there, and depending on the quality of the hay it depends on the volume you feed every horse. If you figure an average thousand pound horse, it’s typical to feed that size of a horse a half of a fifty or sixty pound bale of hay a day, maybe twenty-five, thirty pounds. Some animals also requiring grain in addition to that if that’s a nice first quality or first cutting hay. So sixty-nine horses if you’re feeding them an average of thirty pounds of hay a day, I don’t have a calculator, you’d have to measure that out, but a round bale of hay, a large round bale of hay could be anywhere from four hundred to twelve hundred pounds, so obviously several large round bales for that number of horses, plus the smaller square bales if they’re feeding the horses in the barn and in the confined areas.
Q. And did you see that what you would expect to find there as far as the amount of food that you would expect to find stored to feed those animals on a daily basis?
A. No, there certainly was not, there was no, minimal store of hay, seven or eight small bales there and that was the only stored hay that I saw on the property.
Q. Now, are those the square, are those called square bales?
A. The small square bales are fifty to sixty pound bales of hay.
Q. Okay. Which are much less than a large round bale, I think you said they were often four hundred pounds?
A. Four to twelve hundred. Typically eight to twelve hundred pounds.
Q. Okay.
A. Is the typical size of a large round bale.
Q. Okay. The other thing I wanted to ask you, is on cross examination you were starting to testify as to why you had surmised that that wound on the horse’s leg in the barn had been caused by a wire. Could you explain that please?
A. Well, just a, a wound all the way around a leg like that is usually something that is wrapped around and most commonly in a horse’s environment, wire would be the most common thing that would cause that. And it was obviously an older wound that was healing, trying to begin to heal. But it was in my experience a classic wire cut wound.
Q. Okay. And you’ve seen that type of wound before.
A. Yes.
Q. Recognized it when you saw it.
A. Sure.
MS. LAMP: Okay. No further questions. Thank you.
THE COURT: Mr. Dungan?
RECROSS-EXAMINATION(At 2:51 p.m.)
BY MR. DUNGAN:
Q. If somebody chose to throughout the winter, to go get hay four or five times a week, it would be unnecessary to have stored hay for the winter. Correct?
A. If they bought adequate amounts of hay on a daily basis.
Q. But as long--
A. It’s possible.
Q. –-as they’re doing that you don’t have any problem with the fact there wasn’t very much hay stored on that farm.
A. No, not if they were bringing adequate amounts of hay every day that the horses had free choice to adequate hay.
MR. DUNGAN: All right. No other questions, Your Honor.
MR. HURST: None, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Doctor, based on your observations then and your experience and expertise, you’re telling us that for the entire farm there was not sufficient food for the horses.
THE WITNESS: Correct.
THE COURT: Are you also telling us, I think you have but I’m going to go over this, based on your expertise and observations and experience there was not sufficient water for all the horses on the farm.
THE WITNESS: There was water in the creek, so the horses had access to water, but I have no, I can’t make any judgment on the quality of that water and it’s usually not appropriate to water out of a stream, there are rules and requirements about that. So I can’t evaluate that water. It was there and some of the horses had access to it, but it is not an appropriate water source.
THE COURT: If it’s against the standards, would you say then it’s not sufficient?
THE WITNESS: Right.
THE COURT: How about the shelter? I think in the pictures you had one or two pictures of shelter. Are you saying that there was not adequate protection?
THE WITNESS: Correct.
THE COURT: For the shelters. In terms of sanitary conditions, did you find excessive animal waste?
THE WITNESS: Yes. Particularly in the stall where the young horses were. That all was very dirty. I was concerned with the water supply source because the pasture area that sloped in all directions down to that running creek was also heavily manure coated from those animals being in there for the multiple months, so that was a risk of contamination to the stream too.
THE COURT: Well, that would play again on your sufficient water opinion, wouldn’t it?
THE WITNESS: Right.
THE COURT: Overcrowding—-well, let me back up. On excessive animal waste. Are you familiar with the term, dry lot?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: What does that mean?
THE WITNESS: It’s where animals are housed in a smaller confined area where they’re not, don’t have access to pasture, where they’re basically kept in a lot that is, does not provide clean grass.
THE COURT: Does that impact on animal waste?
THE WITNESS: A dry, animals kept in a dry lot, the lot still needs to be kept cleaned.
THE COURT: How did you find the farm here when you went there on March sixteenth I think, March twentieth?
THE WITNESS: March twentieth.
THE COURT: Did you find excessive animal waste?
THE WITNESS: Yes. Again, basically that entire area where the large group of horses was housed was basically coated with manure.
THE COURT: How about the inside areas?
THE WITNESS: Inside of the barn was also all the stalls needed to be cleaned. There was an excessive accumulation of manure. You could tell it by also the young horses were packed with manure in their hair coat.
THE COURT: Was there overcrowding of the animals?
THE WITNESS: In the barn the young horses that were in that group there were, there was too many animals for that size of a pen to get along sufficiently.
THE COURT: How about the outside? Is there any formula for how much land per horse that you’re supposed to have, the standards that you folks use?
THE WITNESS: Actually we don’t. There are often times township and local zoning ordinances that limit the number of animals that can be housed per acre or per piece of property. The Department of Agriculture statewide leaves that up to local.
THE COURT: Did you have any standard on that when you were in private practice?
THE WITNESS: No, I did not.
THE COURT: So the exterior here was not an overcrowding condition?
THE WITNESS: Not if the horses, not if the pens would have been cleaned adequately and--
THE COURT: But they weren’t.
THE WITNESS: --adequate food and water provided.
THE COURT: But you’re saying there wasn’t adequate food, there wasn’t adequate water and there wasn’t, there was excessive animal waste. Are you saying therefore then--
THE WITNESS: Right. So those pens, it would have been ideal if they cleaned those pens, to remove manure from those pens.
THE COURT: Is it overcrowding because of those factors that exist? Excessive animal waste, inadequate food, water, shelter, therefore we have overcrowding is what you’re saying?
THE WITNESS: That’s kind of a different definition for overcrowding because--
THE COURT: I thought that’s what you said, that you would have, outside here you would if the conditions were such.
THE WITNESS: It would not be unusual to have that number of horses on that amount of property and have it be acceptable if the animals were receiving proper food, water and the area was being properly cleaned.
THE COURT: Okay. Would it be fair to say based then on your observations, experience and expertise that from again the photographs of the horses that you have for us here, that there was disease and illness with these horses?
THE WITNESS: There was--I didn’t examine the animals to determine if they were diseased. They obviously had signs of internal and external parasites.
THE COURT: Is that—-
THE WITNESS: Which is not an infectious disease, the parasites are contagious from animal to animal. And obviously the conditions were not adequate.
THE COURT: Okay. Okay, Doctor. Thank you very much. You may step down. May the doctor be excused?
MS. LAMP: Yes, Your Honor.
MR. DUNGAN: Yes, Your Honor.
MR. HURST: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Watch your step going down.
(At 2:58 p.m. witness excused)