I came across an article from the Tampa Bay Times about a recent five year prison sentence given to a local Town 'N Country woman. Cynthia Cuervo, age 47, was found illegally hoarding twenty-two dogs; most of which suffered from broken bones and eye ulcers. Cuervo was on probation in February for a previous animal neglect case when authorities reported seizing sixteen dogs along with a crate of bones from her residence. Probation forbid Cuervo from owning any animals, therefore the twenty-two dogs found in her possession were enough to have her arrested. Animal investigators reported seizing more than eighty animals from Cuervo in the past six years.
In her recent trial Cynthia Cuervo pleaded guilty to all twenty-five charges that had been put against her. Among these charges were three counts of felony cruelty, and twenty misdemeanor charges of unlawful confinement with no food/water. Two of the charges were unrelated to animals.
"[Judge Gregory Holder] gave Cuervo the maximum 25-year prison sentence, but suspended 20 years of it. When she gets out of prison, she'll be on probation for twenty years and will again be restricted from owing animals."The fact that Cuervo is even doing five of the twenty-five year sentence is a shocker. Jodie Tillman, Times Staff Writer, informs us that prison sentences for animal cruelty cases are not common. I can say I'm pleased with the fact that a prison sentence has been sought out for this case, but I do believe Cuervo doing 40% of the time rather than just 20% would have had a more lasting effect on any individual who is currently committing animal cruelty cases unnoticed. Since it is so rare for anyone to be ordered anything other than large fines or community service, I wish the Hillsborough County Court would have, in the nicest way, made more of an example of how serious animal cruelty truly is. I would argue that the reason cruelty and neglect of animals is growing so rapidly is because individuals are aware that prison time is never a for sure consequence of committing the crime. Let it sink in.
Oh my gosh. I read about this lady as well and found this article quite disturbing. This lady has been a habitual animal abuser. I do not know how someone could treat their pets this way. How will people take animal cruelty serious if they get minimal penaltys? Do think the system is more relaxed on this to save more room in the prisons for what they deem harsher crimes?
ReplyDeleteI do think that available space in prison plays a huge role in why animal abuse offenders rarely face jail time.
DeleteI wonder what percentage of people convicted in animal abuse cases have serious mental problems/ disabilities.. I think this could have something to do with why these kinds of criminals rarely do jail time... Not to make excuses for these people, but I'm pretty sure no one in their right mind would treat animals like this.
ReplyDeleteYou raise an interesting point here, however most animal abuse cases deal with things such as fighting dogs, starving pets, or not giving them proper veterinary care. I think each of these issues are pretty deliberate, and unaffected by mental problems/disabilities. It's against the law to sell an animal to a person who has serious mental disabilities preventing them from properly caring for such animal, shelters and pet stores deny potential adopters for this reason. To wrap it up in my opinion if you have enough mental capability to half-way take care of your animals, than your aware of the proper care they actually need; and failing to provide proper care for your animal is animal abuse any way you look at it.
DeleteI just don't understand! Who wants to take care of 20 dogs. Who has the time? Maybe the law, if it doesn't already do so, should limit the number of pets you are allowed to have in some way; maybe a special license that certifies that you are capable of taking care of so many animals.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good idea that could potentially prevent occurrences like this one. I'll have to look into specific laws about limits on house pets and maybe include a post about them. Thank you for the feedback!
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