This dog was hit by a car in March and its owner, Samantha Hall, of Campbell, was charged with cruelty to a companion animal after police said she did not take it to a vet for treatment. Residents saw the dog was unable to walk and contacted the city mayor, who called police. Hall was given a 90-day suspended jail sentence on Friday and ordered to pay a $50 fine.
CAMPBELL — Campbell Municipal Court saw two animal cruelty cases Friday morning, both relating to companion animals.
Samantha Hall, 41, of Tenney Avenue, pleaded no contest to one count of cruelty to a companion animal. Judge Patrick P. Cunning gave her a 90-day suspended jail sentence and a $50 fine. She is not permitted to own an animal for three years.
This is the result of an incident in March when Hall’s dog was hit by a car and she did not take it to a veterinarian for treatment. According to a police report, she told police she did not have the money to take her Weimaraner to be treated. Concerned residents who saw the dog was unable to walk contacted the Campbell mayor.
When an officer responded, he found the dog curled up under the bed, which is where Hall said he had been staying because he could not move. But, she insisted, the dog was fine and was not dying. The officer told her she is not a vet, so she does not know what type of internal injuries the dog might have had.
At that point, the report notes the officer told her she had two options: The first was to surrender the dog to the Mahoning County Dog Warden so it could be treated. She did not like this option and said the dog could not be taken away because it was her son’s emotional support animal. The second option was for her to be charged with animal cruelty and have a chance to explain her situation.
A deputy dog warden arrived to take the dog into the pound’s care. Hall’s boyfriend had to carry the dog to the car, because it could not walk down the stairs for itself, the report states. The dog was treated by a vet clinic in Austintown, which determined the dog was suffering from fractures of its pelvis and tailbone and was in a lot of pain.
According to an update provided by Campbell police, the dog eventually went to a Weimaraner rescue in northern New York state and has since been adopted.
THE OREO CASE
The second case involved a couple that had been keeping a potbellied pig in its basement, which the police report described as “dungeon-like conditions.”
Shawn Kline and Cortney Kline-Carnes, of Chambers Street, face eight charges between them after police executed a search warrant in July and found a 400-pound pig, named Oreo, living in the home.
In court on Friday, the couple’s case was continued and set for a change-of-plea hearing Jan. 20.
In July, officers found Oreo lying in the dark in a room that smelled heavily of urine and feces, according to a police report. The room had no windows or artificial lighting, and dirty mattresses and blankets littered the floor. The couple claimed Oreo was an emotional support animal.
Oreo’s hooves were so overgrown that she could not walk to her nearby water, the police report states. The animal rescue employees who assisted police said the pig was dehydrated and likely suffering from arthritis because she is so overweight. It took six people to get the animal on a stretcher to carry her out of the basement.
Each of them is charged with keeping and maintaining wild animals, cruelty to animals and neglect of animals. Kline also is charged with aggravated menacing because he threatened to kill the officers if they tried to remove the pig, according to the report. Kline-Carnes also was charged with obstructing official business.
Oreo was sent to Happy Trails Animal Sanctuary in Ravenna. According to an update provided by Campbell police, she is now able to get up and walk around by herself, which she just recently started doing without motivation, such as food. She is steadily losing weight to get back to a healthy weight, which is 100 to 150 pounds.
escott@tribtoday.com