Alpena County Sheriff’s Animal Control responded to a complaint on July 30th of large-scale animal neglect. “I received a complaint of severe animal neglect occurring at a property located on Taylor Hawks Road. The complainant was able to provide me with some photographic evidence, which led to me securing a search warrant and being able to execute that search warrant on the property that day,” Alpena Sheriff’s Animal Control Officer Michelle Reid said. Finding alternatives for so many animals so quickly was a major challenge. “Securing safe locations for the animals to go to that met strict state regulation was a struggle. And the state guidelines indicate that we cannot move those horses to a location where there are horses within a half a mile from that property. There were lots of poultry that needed to be tested, there were goats, sheep, and dogs. But once we were able to find safe and secure locations for all of those animals that met those state guidelines, we immediately began removing animals from the property. So far, we’ve removed a little over 160 animals from the property, and it’s my hope that we can have the rest of them removed by the end of the week. The horses have been moved to a safe location downstate,” Reid said.
Lapointe /L4 Ranch will be assisting the Equines back to health and happiness. “We’re here today assisting Alpena County Animal Control in a massive seizure neglect case of a bunch of equines. There are a few mules, but mostly there are mustangs. That’s why we were called in today, we specialize in Mustangs. My husband Cody and I have trained a few hundred Mustangs and found them all good homes,” Owner of Lapoint/L4 Ranch Cady LaPointe said. There have been complaints at this property, but until now, no proof of criminal neglect. “We’ve had complaints at this property prior to this particular complaint. It’s never been the best conditions. However, there was nothing criminal. The law is very specific,” said Officer Reid. 41-year-old Kristy Bartlett of Alpena County has been arrested and arraigned on felony animal abandoning and cruelty to 25 or more animals and two misdemeanor charges of wrongful disposal of a dead animal.
