I’m having trouble comfortably sleeping at night knowing there are individuals who sleep easily while their beloved pets starve, with infections running through their bodies.

Some might say this statement is overkill, wanting to downplay the recent incident hitting our headlines here in our county, but it is not.

Standing in mud, encased in a small stall, with feces piled high was a 4-year-old pinto stallion with a severe penile lesion infected for weeks. The owner, one of our animal control officers, was out of state and did not have the money to properly care for the horses she had taken responsibility for, a total of six.

She had turned the horses' care over, while she was gone out of state, to an individual who did not have the ability to care properly for horses. She had been warned before by her mother-in-law, the director of Animal Care and Control, several months previous, about the condition of the horses, all underweight. She did not have the money to feed them properly or tend to their basic needs such as grooming and hoofs and, I suspect, proper inoculations. One of the horses in her care was owned by the director.

The director was aware of the condition, that of inadequate food supply. This one horse with the severe infection had been without food for days and was not fed properly for months. As per the animal control officer that found him, he wasn’t even interested in food at this point. I wonder what his temperature was? That would be standard procedure if a human was found in that condition with an infection running ramped throughout their body.

I attended the Animal Care and Control Advisory Board meeting on Monday. As it appears this body can do little to effect change. This alone was disconcerting to me. The animal control officer in question has been cleared of any wrongdoing via what appears to me to be a prime example of the “good ol' boy network” in action.

This, in my opinion, was a set up from the start via Lake County Animal Care and Control Deputy Director Bill Davidson who called his past supervisor, Mendocino County Senior Animal Control Officer George Hodgson, in to do an assessment concluding “the horses were fine and there was no violation”! You see, Bill Davidson also feels everything is fine and dandy and at the advisory board meeting, Bill seemed to have problems with the animal control officer who initiated this complaint and who shared honestly the deplorable conditions that prevailed. It was even made clear to everyone in the room that no reprisal could ensue!

And so where do we stand to effect change? County Code, Chapter 4, Article 1, Section 4-16 addresses the definition of Inhumane Treatment is as follows:

(a) Maliciously and intentionally maim, mutilate, torture, or wound a living animal or maliciously and intentionally kill, torture or torment a living animal or inflict unnecessary cruelty upon an animal;

(b) Deprive a living animal of necessary sustenance, drink, or shelter or protection from the weather;

(c) Subject any animal to needless suffering;

(d) Drive, ride, or otherwise use an animal when unfit for labor;

(e) Keep an animal confined in an enclosed area without an adequate exercise area;

(f) Keep an animal on a leash, rope, or chain less than six (6) feet in length when the owner is not immediately present;

(g) Keep an animal on a leash, rope or chain affixed in such a manner that the animal will become entangled, injured, or prevent the animal from accessing adequate shelter, food and water;

(h) Keep an animal without proper care;

(i) Fail to provide veterinary care for a sick or injured animal.

Seems pretty clear to me. Now I wonder why this is not clear to the powers that have the ability to effect positive change to make sure this never happens again – our county counsel, our district attorney and our Board of Supervisors?

Right now you have an individual who once again is entrusted to care for horses that has proven themselves not capable of doing so. You have an individual at work making subjective and objective findings, drawing up assessments and plans, who is not capable of adhering to the policy themselves.

The most common type of animal cruelty is neglect or abandonment – that is, people not providing adequate care for animals in their charge. These types of cases often involve situations where an animal is left without food, water or shelter, or when proper veterinary care was not obtained. In many of these cases, the underlying reason can sometimes be explained by the caretaker's ignorance. This is why many animal control officers and humane law enforcement officers will first attempt to educate the neglectful caretaker, rather than immediately citing them or arresting them. This is not and should not be the case here!

If the Animal Care and Control Advisory Board and the chair of that board, a licensed veterinarian, concludes clearly there is a problem and yet nothing is done, who then is held accountable for the suffering, injury and possible death of a horse under the care of this individual?

Additionally, how can this individual's subjective finding ever hold up in a courtroom setting if that ever comes to fruition in this county?

Lenny Matthews lives in Lucerne.