Next resident of Hell: Stacey Kempf of Roodhouse, IL
Mar 30 2011
I am going to warn you once. Do not read this story if you can’t handle seeing dead horses. The pics are graphic and close-up.
A Horse Concentration Camp Found in Central Illinois
News story without graphic pictures
Here’s Stacey. As per usual, she does not appear to have been starving herself.
Stacey Kempf (murderer) works for the IL Dept. of Corrections. This is where the most good will be done now. She does not deserve to continue sponging off of the taxpayers of IL by making 117,000.00 plus in a years time and still complain she can’t afford to feed the horses.There are senior citizens that make less in an entire year then she makes in a month and somehow are able to survive. (FHOTD in: I edited this part after learning the correct entity Kempf works for)
Ms. Kempf works for the Illinois Dept of Juvenile Justice.
http://www.idjj.state.il.us/ , not IL Dept of Corrections. They are separate entities. Correct address is
Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice
707 N. 15th St.
Springfield, IL 62702
217-557-1030
Director Arthur D. Bishop
217-782-6657
Thomas Jennings is the Director
I believe this number will take you to the department that Ms. Ballard works for. Disappointed-As I stated earlier, the Quarter Horse Association has stated to me that they will work with people adopting the horses, they asked if I would try to help identify if requested, which I will gladly do. Since Ms. Kempf is so kind hearted, she may have handed over all papers to the rescue. Don’t hold your breath on that one. Kempf must be CONVICTED before either association will take any action, so I would hold of on trying to contact either association just yet. I don’t want to see any of these horses turned back into breeding factories but do feel they should continue through their lives dignified and with their real pedigrees.”
If you did look at the pics of the dead horses, here is how that red dun mare used to look. Her previous owner is beyond distraught that she ended her life this way.
I say it constantly but I’ll say it again:
- Don’t give your horses to a home you can’t check up on.
- Don’t give your horses to people who won’t allow you to follow up. Good homes have nothing to hide. I would send current pictures to anyone who used to own any horse I own (most of them are on my Facebook so they see pics all the time – that’s the easy way to do it).
- A bullet in the head or euthanasia is FAR kinder than a home that MIGHT be okay. If you go to the pet’s new home and you get a creepy feeling, RUN! You aren’t wrong! You aren’t being judgmental! I’ve never heard of anyone who said, gee, my instincts told me that person was bad news when I met him/her, but gosh, I was totally wrong about them. Have you?
- And again, on free pets/good homes/Craigslist and other internet sites, this story will give you nightmares, too. SPAY/NEUTER and don’t give them away for free on CL, no matter what you do! I guarantee this douchebag wasn’t picking up puppies from a rescue that had a $100 adoption fee tacked on. He was getting them from people who give away puppies free on CL or whatever sites. Wow, hope you guys who did that in the local area read this story and feel great about the outcome of your irresponsible behavior!
Yeah, I’m mad. These two stories today…it’s not like we don’t see a lot of bad things here, but these are special, even for the Fugly blog. If we euth dogs merely for being food aggressive, why aren’t we euthing people this positively and absolutely worthless? I’m so sick of the arrogant idea that human life is somehow intrinsically worth more than animal life. These two pieces of shit aren’t worth a penny on their best day, and IMNSHO, in an ideal world, they’d get the death penalty and we’d all be well rid of them. In our less-than-ideal world, all I can say is please pick up the phone and make some calls and let’s see if we can keep them locked up for as long as possible. Court date is April 4th for Stacey!
If you are tired of horse slaughter, and pro-slaughter lies about horse slaughter, consider donating to Angel Acres’ billboard campaign. Click the billboard for more info!
224 comments to “Next resident of Hell: Stacey Kempf of Roodhouse, IL”
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The asshole that killed the 29 dogs needs to be removed from any contact with any life form ever again. I don’t care how you accomplish that. The man is a true sadist, has no conscience, and is now in my “irredeemable” pile. I am generally a trusting person, but if I lived anywhere near that person, I would be very scared.
As for Mrs. Kempf, well, all I can say is that there is a special place in hell for people like her. I have never understood how anyone can just walk away from animals starving to death and just pretend it doesn’t exist. It baffles me how someone making over $100,000 a year can just let all those horses starve to death, when I can feed one horse, three dogs, two cats, and two people on $36,000 a year. And feed them quality, healthy food, not the cheap shit.
I keep 3 horses, 2 dogs, a cat, a fish, and a snake fat, happy and very well cared for on about $10k a year…
Thank god the other half has a good job and pays for everything else, otherwise I’d have to rehome them all, but it can be done well without it being a huge expense. I just had to learn to trim feet so we’re not making as many farrier calls, and I help the neighbor bale hay to cut down on the feed bill. Budgeting, planning, and making sure there is an emergency vet fund isn’t easy, but my zoo is way cheaper then therapy…
I keep 3 horses, that I BOARD, 4 cats, 1 dog, 1 ferret, 1 parrot, 2 fish tanks, 1 bearded dragon, and 1 salamnder. I have FOURTEEN animals. EIGHT of them require vaccinations 1-2 times a year. The horses get farrier/deworming 6 times a year, teeth & coggins every April. I make $25,000 a year and my husband makes a little more than I do. Our home is always clean, our animals eat Science Diet, each pet has a binder for their veterinary records and vaccination histories. My horses, even the one that doesn’t leave the farm or show or do anything useful with her life gets a coggins every year, vaccinations twice a year, tons of treats, feed, good hay, clean water and they all get worked 2-3 times a week. We both work full time and still manage to feed and care for all our animals.
This woman is sick on so many levels to do this to 33 horses with 100K+ income a year. If I made 100K+ a year, I’d probably have 5 or 6 horses, and it would be nice to have them at home instead of boarding. But you can bet, they’d be cared for, fat, and happy. She should be locked away in one of her own cells that she guards and not checked in on. And just for added fun, remove the toilet, too. Stop feeding her, and leave her like that for 12 months. She how she does.
Stories like this are just too much to bear. I don’t understand how anyone can turn a blind eye to the suffering of innocent animals that can’t help themselves. It really makes me afraid to know where some of the horses I’ve sold and lost track of ended up over the years. Terrifies me, really.
http://www.kshai1715.wordpress.com
Horses. Life. Photography.
It’s interesting what can be accomplished with (a) priorities and (b) motivation, isn’t it? Sadly for horses, too many people cannot just get off the damn couch and put in the effort. I understand that Kempf was working a lot of overtime to make that money – but then you HIRE someone. At $100K+, do not tell me you cannot hire someone at $10/hour to feed and care for your horses.
We really need to stop saying these people are sick, because the word “sick” implies that they can be cured, which they can’t be. I knew someone who was not quite this bad, but bad enough with their animals, and there is no helping it or educating them. They always get more.
It’s people like this that are a reason people used to have people locked up in asylums and then forgot about them. Who could deal with having someone like this as a relative?
Saying that people like these have a mental illness also stigmatizes mental illness. There is a huge difference between having bipolar disorder and being a sociopath. Can you imagine what these people, particularly the dog killer, would do to the other residents if they were put in a mental health treatment facility?
Ugh, computer froze up on the first picture – but that was enough for me. Sadly, there are more than just a few Jason Meduniac sociopaths in the equine world. Sickening.
This brings up something that has been bothering me for a while – which is, in the event of my demise, who will take care of my horses? I have requested that two close friends make sure my guys go to good homes – but my gelding that I use for dressage is a little quirky, one of those “not for just anyone” type of horses. Oy vey, have lost more than a few sleepless nights over this one.
After a friend of mine had a bad accident, it made her think that having a plan for her horses was a very good thing. Her husband and sons could keep them fed and cleaned up after but they aren’t horse people. And while 1 of her horses would be easy to find a good home for, the other 3 need specific types of people. So she’s told her husband that if anything happens to her, he’s to call me and keep the horses cared for until I can re-home them. And if the right homes couldn’t be found, then I’d choose euth vs. uncertainty.
For myself it’s much easier — my horse and 2 dogs would go to my barn owner, along with my truck so she could sell hers to pay for the one dog’s medical issues. And part of my life insurance would go to her too, to help with the gelding’s expenses.
In with my living will and regular will – and given to my parents – a written document – listing the dogs and horses, and who is to be contacted should my husband and I die at the same time. Friend is listed for one, the breeder of another is listed, horses current rough value (so friends/family do not get taken advantage of) and contact of who could help them sell the horses. And instructions that my oldest dog – almost 14 be put down if someone in the family could not take her as I don’t want her bounced around in rescue.
The gal who recognized her horse – oh my goodness. I just placed my love of a horse, in a great home (with first right of refusal contract) that I think is better for him than mine (management wise – grazing v dry lot) – and the thoughts that went through my head if I saw a picture of my horse starved to death…I would be crazed.
I urge you to consider providing for your horses’ care in a will. I have a “not just for anyone” horse, but I am fortunate enough to have a trainer who he adores and who loves him back, enough that she wouldn’t mind taking care of him in the event of my untimely demise; however, he is not suited for lessons and I wouldn’t want him resold, so I have a life insurance policy through work with my pets as the beneficiaries. The horse is provided for with enough money to cover typical care expenses for the rest of his life, to be given to my trainer for his care or paid to a retirement facility approved by my trainer. The rest goes to my other pets evenly with my siblings as custodians.
If you don’t have the option of providing funds for lifelong care or retirement board (I don’t have human kids, but people who do might not want to leave a portion of their life insurance funds to animals instead of human children) and you don’t have someone you can ask to be “Godmother/Godfather,” then I would suggest at least setting up a separate bank account with enough money for humane euthanasia and leaving instructions that your horse be euthanized using those funds if the only other options are to blindly sell him to a home that “might be OK.”
Any probate lawyer can help you word your will to express your wishes regarding your horses. The only really WRONG way to go about it is not to mention them in your will at all! At least put a line in that says your horses are not to go to slaughter or auction and that you would prefer humane euthanasia if those are the other options.
The dog story reminds me of your blog that dealt with the ties between domestic abuse & animal abuse. The guy held his girlfriend captive and killed the dogs in front of her to horrify her, then made her clean up. At 19 years old. WOW. Absolutely unbelievable. Watcha’ wanna bet somebody makes a movie out of the story. Sickening. I would certainly recommend the death penalty as proper justice for the perpetrators in both of these stories. Someone in a repectable job and earning a 5 figure salary starving her horses. Beyond belief.
Amen to that! Even the death penalty is not enough for people like these, they should be tortured first, then killed.
I’d be fine with torturing the sicko to death if it would actually accomplish something, but in this case it wouldn’t. I’ll volunteer for the firing squad, though.
I’d be happy just to get their genes out of the gene pool.
Your wish is granted. She only likes girls.
SIX figure.
(Not to be “correcting” you, but mainly it makes the point hit home even more)
God, that’s horrifying. I will never get those images out of my head. There is just no excuse for things like this to happen.
I have a special needs cat who needs to be rehomed(semi-feral but very sweet. Needs to be an only cat). Stories like this are the reason I would only let her go to another rescue person who I really know well. I’m not likely to find a feral savvy rescue person with no cats so she will likely stay with me for good as a barn cat.
I’ve heard of people selling horses with an agreement that if the buyer at any point cannot keep the horse, it goes back to the seller. How on earth do you enforce that?
For those who sell a horse to a buyer far away, how do you check up on them? How often is often enough
to check up on them? What happens if you find something after the sale like abuse or neglect after the sale? How do you get them back?
I would be scared to death to sell a horse, there’s just no telling where they will end up.
You enforce it by having a contract stating if the animal will change owners than they must offer you the horse back for up to X times the selling price of the animal. You must then follow it up by adding a statement saying failure to do so will result in paying a penalty of, say, 100 times the purchase price of the animal. This way you have a contract AND you have the ability to collect monetary damages if the buyer doesn’t offer the animal back.
THIS JUST was discussed at my barn.
If, in your contract, you have a clause stating that you will be contacted prior to the horse being made available for sale to the public, and you find out that your horse was sold without the opportunity for you to get the horse back you can sue the person for breach of contract. If you know where the horse is you can get them back.
This is what happened:
Person A was given Bob the Horse by a friend. Person A could no longer care for him and sold him to person B with a stipulation in the contract that she would have first right of refusal. Person B then sold the horse to person C, who sold him to D, and then Bob went to person E. When A called B to ask how the horse was doing, she found out he was sold. There was a HUGE issue made out of it, person A brought person B to court. Not only did it get settled for a financial amount but person E had to relinquish the horse to person A because Bob the Horse was not person B’s to sell until after she had given person A a chance to say she didn’t want him back.
So Bob the horse is back with person A and person B is PISSED. I don’t know who has to compensate person E for the loss of their horse but I’m going to *guess* that it’s the person that sold him without giving A a chance to buy him back.
I sold a horse last April, we had him in training (professional) for several months prior. He was on his way to a good career in low level eventing. Sold to a woman with the same goal as we thought he’d be a better fit with her than being a pasture potato he’d end up being if he stayed with us. 11 months later we get an email that he was surrendered to a rescue- neglected, underweight, sore, and lame. WTF. We contacted the woman, who made up this excuse about owing thousands in vet bills over a preexisting condition and he was lame in training with her. Funny how he was sound with us for a couple years including time in training. I sent her an email outlining that our sales contract detailed that I have right to first refusal if horse was to be sold or given away. Anyway he landed in a good home, I’ll be visiting shortly. He’s sound again and gaining weight. I want to go after the buyer but not sure if 1. I really can and 2. if it’s really worth it (time and money).
And why does Stacey Kempf sound too familiar… I have some searching to do.
The name Stacey Kempf reminded me of Mein Kampf. Go figure.
When I purchased my mare in November 2010 from a friend and neighbor I signed a sale contracted that has an agreement that If I at any point cannot care for my mare any more she is to be returned to her,and I will get back the money I payed for her.My friend is a very knowledgeable horsewoman and takes amazing care of all her animals.I’ve even stated to my boyfriend if I ever pass on Nikki (horse) is to be returned to her as well.
I defiantly can see where your coming from.I wouldn’t have signed such an agreement if I didn’t trust the seller,but I had no issues doing so in this case as I know the seller personaly.I think such agreements with reliable and responsible sellers is a great thing to have just in case the day comes when you can’t afford or physically care for the horse any more,so you don’t have to go through the stress and anxiety of selling the horse to the wrong person,you know the horse is going where they will be safe, and well cared for.Again,I will repeat,this should only be done if you know what the seller is like themselves and you see first hand how they treat their own animals.
There is always a possibility that the person requesting first right of refusal won’t have the horse back. The person that sold me my OTTB was like that – of course, she also knew about his neurological issue that she didn’t disclose to me, so I can see why she didn’t want him back. (Even though I do if his new home doesn’t work out)
I defiantly agree with you,it’s just nice having that security knowing that if I had to let my horse go there’s a good home waiting for her right next door.I hate the thought of the situation,but things do happen.
And that’s awful what happened to you,the days you could trust some ones word is long gone.I had something similar happen to me with a gelding that was lame that I bought when I was 15.So long story short,now I’m a pre-purchase exam freak,even if I was buying off my friend I still had my mare looked over just in case,and she came out with a clean bill of health.
Ok, that makes sense. Injuries and illnesses I can deal with. But not knowing where they(any animal in my care) are if they are safe….
I can’t imagine how horrible it must be for the poor lady who sold her horses to that Stacey bitch…I would have lost my mind.
Glad to hear that Person A got their horse back
Jesus H. Christ…what does that woman do for $117,000 a year? And although the cost of living may be a bit higher in Illinois (worst state to retire to), that’s WAY more than most people make in her neck of the woods!!! Worthless piece of crap!!!
Apparently that obscene monsters spends it all on food…..for herself.
More like… where does all her money GO??
from the looks of her picture…in her BELLY…
Fugs, love your blog. Read it daily. Want to clear up a few things. Ms. Kempf works for the Illinois Dept of Juvenile Justice.
http://www.idjj.state.il.us/ , not IL Dept of Corrections. They are separate entities. Correct address is
Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice
707 N. 15th St.
Springfield, IL 62702
217-557-1030
Director Arthur D. Bishop
As for the amount she made. Probably due to massive overtime. JJC does not make that much by any stretch of the imagination. Interesting link to her pay. http://tinyurl.com/49sjfb6 She is now listed with CMS which leads me to believe she is no longer at Pere Marquette. And it says back wage.
Not only do I live in the area, I work for IL Corrections. I don’t want that blight associated with who I work for. I hope she rots.
Thank you!
I’ll fix the blog entry.
Overtime was my thinking as well. In the Province of Ontario, Correctional Officers regularly make the “Sunshine List” (over $100K) as a result of overtime (so do some bus drivers). How overtime is scheduled is in the collective agreement and regularly, and I do mean regularly, grieved if COs think that they didn’t get their proper call-up (even if they are in the hospital, out of the country, or in jail themselves). A few have even figured out how to play the system by calling in sick on their call-back shift so their circle of conspirators can get the extra, extra overtime on say, long weekends. One notorious group weren’t found out for years at significant cost to the Province. This kind of scam sounds right up this waste-of-skin’s alley. $117K buys a lot of beer & Doritos.
I can’t believe people! I just don’t understand how people can be so cruel! I just picked up a beautiful APHA, incredibly well bred filly for free of craigslist cause the lady didn’t care about her anymore, I could have been a kill buyer for all her cared! Lucky for my new filly I am caring forever home!
However, if I wouldn’t or couldn’t have taken her who knows where she would have ended up
There are very, very few things in this world that make my blood boil more than someone getting away with committing a crime because they “know” someone. The sick thing is that it happens all over. It happens with the Animal Welfare Board in our state with someone with a black record (who DOES look like at least an A rated trader compared to this chick), people driving drunk or speeding, people not getting their children taken away when they violently abuse them. It’s disgusting.
I noticed that the kid was only 19…if this is what he’s doing at 19 the judicial system NEEDS to take a stand and lock him up. What? He will have a defense lawyer that bargains and helps him get a lesser sentence? What do you mean he’s going to be released early? The woman he tortured (yes, killing and mutilating animals, especially kyoot ones in front of someone is a form of psychological torture) is going to have nightmares for the rest of her life and probably won’t be able to look at a dog for the next half century without having a panic attack. And I won’t even call him a piece of shit because even shit is can be useful. That abysmal waste of oxygen is probably going to get a slap on the wrist, or a couple years in prison and released early for good behavior or some bullshit like that and then be right back out to do it again. And he WILL do it again.
Our judicial system has become a joke. Want to know the sickest, most awful thing? Our system is against “cruel and unusual punishment”. When people who think it’s okay to touch little kids went to jail they were considered “rock spiders”, the lowest of the low. So the people in jail with them would beat the shit out of them or kill them (that, to me, is justice). That is “cruel and unusual”. So now there are special prisons for pedophiles and child molesters. So all the pedophiles and child molesters are “safe” with other pedophiles and child molesters. How is that not just a big club?
I’m not sure when we started protecting the villains and stopped defending the victims, but it’s a sad time.
I think she’s a hoarder. Instead of pancaked cat carcasses smashed into the rubbish in her house, she has dead horses. So okay, here’s my rant:
I have developed a very harsh attitude toward animal hoarders. They are often referred to as “sick,” but I don’t care. If someone allows their cat to have fifty babies and there are dead kitties flattened under the garbage in their house, they need to be locked away. Every time I see these TV shows and I hear some hoarder say, “You can’t take away my dogs! What will I do? I can’t live without my ba-a-a-bies!” all I hear is the “I” in that statement. The hoarders are totally selfish and don’t care about what is best for their animals, only about their own happiness and feelings.
Someone else on this blog pointed out the incongruity of our, that is, society’s attitude toward animal hoarding. It is not uncommon to see those dealing with animal hoarders say, with sympathy, “Well, this is hard for him (to relinquish his dogs) because he just loves them,” WHILE AT THE SAME TIME seeing a dessicated carcass and the walking dead with ten pounds of matted hair, runny eyes, not spayed or neutered and of course, never vaccinated. Would we say the same about a child neglecter? (sp?) “Oh well, he just loves children, tsk, how hard for him!” while a few dead ones and starving, ill ones are wandering about. I don’t think so. She should do jail time and never be allowed to have animals.
I think the Hoarders TV show has left EVERYONE with that feeling…when you see what these people have put their animals through, hell, their KIDS through…you really just want to kick them.
And as I’ve noted before, true love is shown by your ACTIONS. You can say I love X all day but if you’re beating X or neglecting X or belittling X or not feeding X, that ain’t love and it never will be.
I think part of the problem here is that the English word ‘love’ has such a broad meaning. I say that I love my family and horses, and I say that I love chocolate and ice cream. These are two very different types of love. I am concerned about the well-being and happiness of my family and horses. I am concerned only about the happiness that eating ice cream and chocolate bring me. I also believe that dark chocolate contributes to my well-being and anyone who thinks otherwise may keep her/his opinion to her/himself.
This ’selfish’ love on my part is not a problem because ice cream and chocolate exist to be consumed (I buy fair trade). If I were to neglect my ice cream and chocolate – maybe let the ice cream melt and the chocolate get so old that I had to throw it out (fat chance!) – no one would criticize me much. Someone might remark on the wastefulness.
The love that hoarders have for their animals is the same love that I have for chocolate, which I eat daily. If something prevented me from getting chocolate, I would not be a happy camper. If I then threw a histrionic fit claiming that I did not know how I was going to survive without my chocolate fix, I don’t suppose I would get much sympathy from the rest of you. Hoarders deserve no sympathy for their loss, since they get their pleasure from the animals at the expense of the animals, which do not exist to be consumed.
I wrote the following letter to the Illinois Department of Corrections and took the liberty to print photos.
It has been brought to my attention that your employee, Stacey Kempf has been charged with 30 misdemeanors for animal cruelty. I am shocked that felony charges were not brought against Stacey. I am attaching photos for you to look at. This is not pretty but please look. Look at the dead horses at the hand of your employee, Stacey Kemp. It is repulsive. These horses starved to death. It’s quite gruesome. Your employee murdered these animals. She makes plenty of money from what I have ascertained. Surely one who makes six figures can afford to buy hay and grain and ensure that the horses she has on her property are properly fed and receive basic veterinary care. I remind you that this took place at her property, where she lives. There is no excuse for this. None. No living creature deserved to slowly, painfully starve to death.
I am sure (or at least hope) there has been a media storm regarding these charges against your employee, Stacey Kempt. However, in the event that you did not see exactly what your employee did, I urge you to look. Horrifying isn’t it? I know that she has not been charged with a felony. Furthermore, I have heard from the grapevine that her father was at one point a Sheriff. Nonetheless I urge you, plead with you to do the right thing and terminate this evil, selfish, heartless criminal. As you are probably aware, animal cruelty and child abuse are never far off.
Thank you for your time,
Sincerely,
Lisa A. Lyons
Now I need to go hug my horse and try to stop crying my eyes out.
Good for you. They need letters like that. I will bet that she is doing everything she can to hide the gory details from her friends, co-workers and boss.
I live about 30 minutes from where this travesty happened. I read about it when it came out in the local paper. I was outraged, pissed (really beyond pissed), mad as hell, sick to my stomach and every other adjective you can come up with. In the beginning they would not release the owners name. I would guess for fear of retaliation. In the paper the sheriff of Greene County had been alerted to this on several occasions. He said they were waiting for the Dept. of Ag ( I think) to send someone out to investigate. Also, he was supposedly waiting to be told how to handle the situation.
This Kempf lady was alerted she was going to be visited. She called a neighbor to buy hay so there would be feed there when authorities showed up. She also hired a neighbor with a backhoe to come and bury 9 dead horses on the property.
He (backhoe man) said that some of the dead horses just about made him sick. Some had been dead so long there were just skeletons. Possums, turkey vultures and coyotes had taken care of the bodies. Backhoe man also said 1 horse was laying on the ground paddling in the last minutes of its life.
This woman (termed loosely) lives about 30 minutes or so south of the property. So apparently, she could not find time in her day to daily check on these horses. Or, it was too much of a pain in the ass to make the trip.
It was published in the local paper for people to NOT; even with their hearts in the right place go to the property and feed these horses. They would be arrested for trespassing. So, for the legal system to work by dotting all its Is’ and crossing all Ts’ people had to drive by and watch these horses deteriorate before their eyes.
We have 4 ladies teams from Roodhouse come to our town to bowl on Thursday nites. 2 weeks ago, when this was still in the paper I asked the ladies if they know or knew of this low life piece of shit. They were as mad as I was. They did not know the Kempf cunt. I truly believe them. Some knew what area the property was; but, did not know her.
Also, in the paper it was mentioned that Central Illinois Horse Rescue was gonna take a couple of the rescues. Don’t know how many. They are small and have a fundraiser in the fall during Greene County Days. I will make a point to get down there this year and buy or donate whatever.
If any one here in Illinois or the midwest wants to donate to them here is their website. cilhorserescue.com
This is what they should do to Kempf. Put up a dog pen right outside the front door of a wonderful restaurant. Put her in it with a sign on the front of the cage that says ” DO NOT FEED OR WATER THIS HORSE STARVING BITCH” Of course, she could smell the wonderful food when people walk in and out. I would be happy to see her waste away slowly ( it looks like it would take a little while; by the size of her in the picture.)
Judging from her appearance, it looks like that would be doing her a favor, although I’m not altogether sure that’s a woman.
A friend called them. They have apparently adopted out what they took in already. Was in papers stretching counties.
You know how jaded I am? I looked at the pictures, read the story, and shrugged. Welp, guess the ‘pro slaughter’ people will have a blast with this one. “Oh see? If slaughter was still legal, those horses would have all died before they… died.” Yea… thanks.
I’m supporting 4 horses on 40k per year, as well as a mortgage and a son. The only characteristic my horses share with Miss Six Figures is that they are currently muddy (It’s spring, what can I say?). The money isn’t the issue– managing money is the issue. I think anyone who can’t take care of animals probably doesn’t need to be applying their special brand of ‘care’ to our correctional facilities. Or even to our gas stations or libraries.
And to think, our states want to cut teacher pay because WE are overpaid. Yea right.
I know, but she could have sold them to any killer transporting to Canada or Mexico. Looks like she had no intention of getting rid of them, although I have no idea what she was doing with them other than let them suffer. I still have no understanding of how this happened, I mean even she only viewed them as stock it is still not good economic sense to let them starve and die.
That guy who killed the dogs was practicing. He’ll get out someday and do the same thing to women, he sounds like a Jeffrey Dahmer.
I was thinking the same thing… didn’t Ted Bundy also start by torturing and then killing the neighborhood cats? I hope the system does a good job of watching that one, when he gets out in, you know, 6 months.
Yup. In my opinion, this guy is more dangerous than the great majority of murderers. I doubt they can give him the death sentence, since he hasn’t killed anyone, yet. I wish they could.
I hope the woman (who is more than likely a teenage girl) survives with her sanity and her soul intact. And that she never has to look at him again.
But think of the trauma when he gets out and does all these things to 29 girls, and she has to relive her nightmare, with the girls’ faces in her mind. I have a sister and a couple of friends who would tell me that I can’t predict the future and everyone can be “redeemed.” Well, I don’t believe that anyone this evil ever has, or ever will.
do hope that she is there at trial to tell her story so that the jury knows what a sick fething piece of trash he is…other than that…i do hope that it doesnt take too terribly much therapy…it will take a lot…but hopefully she’s not too permanently damaged…poor thing…
Yeah, we’ll hear about him again. This is pretty EXTREME, this isn’t even the little stuff that most serial killers start with. This guy not only has no conscience, he has no sense of needing to hide his shit.
When we hear about him again it will probably be a collection of women and children corpses in his house D:
It’s such a predictable pattern and we have seen it so, so, so many times.
I’d been reading about Kempf already, and the photos (especially the part about the gal who saw her horse dead on TV – then got arrested for trespassing… fuck) broke my heart.
But then you had to add the story about the 19 year old freak / psychopath as icing and shock me anyway.
When I read they were mostly puppies, for some reason that made it even worse. I don’t know why, it would be JUST as bad if they were adults… but really? Puppies?
It probably is worse for me because I have black labs, and a couple of them were puppies not that long ago (they’re just 1YO now).
What a fucked up world.
omg – I am sick. This woman should be locked in a cell with other animal abusers and be forced to fight for food – or all just starve together. Someone who is capable of this lacks humanity – and she works in corrections. My god.
I wish now that I did not see the pics:(
Maybe they can lock her up with the 19 year old psycho from the other article. Thunderdome-style.
I had that thought! That would be justice.
I will never understand crap like this, never ever ever. How can that woman possibly work for the Department of CORRECTIONS!!! Is that not the biggest joke in the world or what? She needs to be an inmate!
My God.
I don’t usually get too emotional about these stories – just pissed – but the way that lovely mare ended up was gut-wrenching…I can’t even imagine what her last moments were like.
I would gladly contribute to a fund to get the goods on this woman professionally. Because you just KNOW that history tells us a woman this unfeeling, controlling and vindictive (A person tries to feed your animals and you have them arrested?!) must be a vicious cow at work.
Even her good-ole-boy sheriff daddy couldn’t save her fat ass if it came to light that she was the poster child for the science that says an person who abuses animals will go on to abuse humans.
Do inmates have access to the internet? Can they blog? Here’s an opportunity for a bunch of car thieves, crack whores and bullies to do a really, really great thing for animals. C’mon! Everyone who visits, has worked at, (or knows someone who was released from) one of those Illinois juvenile facilities – Stand up for the animals! Out Stacey Kempf for the nasty bitch we all know she is.
I am very surprised the 29 tortured dogs story did not make the Pittsburgh News. Hancock Co WV is just 40 minutes from Pittsburgh and also since it included domistic abuse. It sickens me to think of what the dogs went through. Worse yet, how do women not see from the get go that this guy is screwed up. I often wonder about stupid choices that people make in who they get in relationships with.
The horse starvation story was awful as well. The animals we see are always found dead in a hell hole of mud and junk and bad fencing. Every time I hear another story on this, I wonder what the people who do this really think after its all said and done. Is there any remorse from these abusers? Do they realize what they have done? Are they all just f’d up mentally? How do they live with themselves?
Given that he is 19, I am guessing the girl is no older, and I am sure she was scared shitless of him. I hope she gets help…I can’t even imagine.
INSANE CRUEL NASTY SCUM.
I hope she rots in hell.
How you could do that. How you could live with yourself. Entirely beyond me.
If we euth dogs merely for being food aggressive, why aren’t we euthing people this positively and absolutely worthless? I’m so sick of the arrogant idea that human life is somehow intrinsically worth more than animal life.You just isolated one of the intrinsic values of one of the largest political parties in the nation.
They’re all about states rights, more [The One True Only Christian] God, less science, more dominionism, end times hysteria, and 18th century misogyny. And with that “God gave us the right to [do as we fucking please] with animals,” nature, or whatever, this is where we end up. Ideas of secession, crazyass militias, and hard core religious fundamentalism that used to be considered the fringe are now part of daily political banter. Fuck that, they’re the candidates.
There is a line between personal liberties and common responsibilities. We have laws against murder, rape, and child pornography. But as soon as you try to insert anything like animal rights in the mix, the first thing they do is throw up their hands “their rights” are being violated by “big government.” If you read quotes from the last Summit Of The Horse, you’ll see quotes that address states rights, property rights, etc., and how all those are compromised by giving animals any rights. Meanwhile, sperm and zygotes trump all, and several states are moving to have mandatory ultrasounds and a host of regulations that invade women’s privacy and rights, including women who are victims of rape and incest, because baby Jesus told them human life is so fucking precious.
Anyone who says horse slaughter isn’t a political issue has been living under a rock. It’s always been political. But now its base isn’t just a matter of politics, it’s hard core dominionist politics.
I’m for more, newer, better, animal rights. If that’s “big government,” then I’m all for it. Without apologies.
“…several states are moving to have mandatory ultrasounds and a host of regulations that invade women’s privacy and rights, including women who are victims of rape and incest, because baby Jesus told them human life is so fucking precious.”
This is just an observation, but has it occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, this is the origin of all the problems you are ranting about? Is it possible the idea that not only is it okay, but it’s a “right” to kill the most defenseless in our human society leads to people who have no feelings for any other living creatures? The individual who doesn’t believe that human life is “fucking precious” and that it should be valued and protected will not believe that the life of any other being is precious or valuable either.
*uses a jumbo can opener for the giant can of worms*
Just because a woman chooses to have an abortion doesn’t make her a psychopath like Jeffrey Dahmer Jr. and the 29 puppies.
There are women that go have abortions because they didn’t use birth control, and that, I believe, is wrong. If someone is at an abortion clinic on a somewhat regular basis it’s time to ask some questions. But there are other women who have abortions for a multitude of reasons, not just incest or rape. There are girls that have wound up in intensive care and miscarried because an abusive partner or parent beat the shit out of them when they revealed that they were pregnant. There are so many reasons why a woman would decide that it’s not a good idea to bring a child into the world and choose to abort. And as the adoption thing gets brought up – we talk on here ALL THE TIME about what horrible, awful things can happen to your animals when you lose control of them and give that control to anyone else. Would YOU be able to give up your child, knowing that legally there isn’t a damned thing you can do if the person you let have your child, your DNA, the blood of your blood turns out to be abusive?
The point is that in some ways we take better care of our animals than we are allowed to care for ourselves. Your dog has cancer and will die a horrible painful death so you have him euthanized. Your Aunt has cancer and will die a horrible, painful death so you make her hold on for six months of agonizing, excruciating pain that painkillers barely touch as everyone around her is traumatized watching her suffering because human life is SOOOO precious.
As far as animal rights are concerned, animals should have the right to live a life with adequate food, water and shelter, without being tortured or abused. Regardless of whether this is a pet dog or it’s a cow destined from birth for slaughter. There is NO reason to make animals suffer. In the bible it does say that man has dominion over the animals, but I very, VERY highly doubt that having dominion over the animals was intended to mean “do whatever the hell you want to them and it’s okay.”
I do NOT think abortion is ‘okay’, but I am also absolutely against criminalizing it…and bear in mind, most Pro Lifers are NOT about ‘protecting babies’.
In fact, I think the attitude that pregnancy is a punishment for having sex is far, far worse than saying it’s okay to have an abortion. I would love a society with zero abortions, but stuff like trying to force the IRS to audit women to prove they are not using taxpayer money to fund an abortion that is not ‘the result of rape or incest’ (no KIDDING) is NOT the solution.
How about better sex education, MORE research into BETTER contraceptive options and better child care? Oh wait, pro lifers are against those too! Because the baby is a punishment for sex. I guess they’re hung up on ‘I will multiply your pain in bearing children’ or something. As for rape…well, the slut probably asked for it, right?
How about developing techniques to allow artificial insemination with selected sperm so children are not born with Tay-Sachs disease or Cystic Fibrosis? Oh yeah, against that too, it’s playing God.
Pro Life extremists are all about denying and destroying female sexuality NOT protecting children. (I’m not saying this is EVERYONE who is against abortion, but it seems to be a lot of the most vocal ones). Ask any older or retired ER doc if he wants to go back to the days before Roe vs. Wade…
(And before you ask. I don’t identify as pro choice EITHER, I simply believe that if women are denied safe, legal abortions they will opt for unsafe and illegal ones, risking their lives and future fertility. I also believe that a society benefits from producing fewer, better children.)
Well, call me a crazy killer cause I believe in a woman’s right to choose, and I will also pinch a twin in a mare. I do, however, respect life and love animals. I am a vegetarian and would never hurt an animal or another person. Please watch the first 2 minutes of this video because it pretty much sums up the way that I see the “Pro-life” folks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvF1Q3UidWM
I’d pinch a twin in a second, and I don’t believe in abortion being illegal in cases where the mother’s health is in jeopardy (same parallel). I don’t actually believe in abortion being illegal period…I just think people should do a little more research and watch the procedure. If you can’t stand to watch it, why would you do it? Watching it first, and reading actual facts from medical journals about what point a fetus feels pain, are things that allow you to make an informed choice. My position comes from facts, not religion, so I don’t have any issue with morning after pills, etc. But by the time it can feel pain, I don’t think it’s morally okay to slice and dice it.
Neither do I, but I believe it is even less morally okay to risk a woman’s life. I also believe there are some (thankfully rare) situations where aborting a child that is deformed is perfectly alright. There ARE children born who have no chance at a decent quality of life or who are going to die soon after birth no matter what anyone does… I do not, however, believe it is morally okay to use abortion as purely a means of birth control and I believe that we need to keep working on contraceptive techniques as part of working towards a goal of no abortions ever being *needed*. Criminalization addresses the supply side of abortions, and leaves some women in genuinely desperate situations and reaching for knitting needles. If you are *truly* on the side of the unborn child, you need to address the *demand* side of abortion.
You are so correct and unfortunately many, dare I say most, of those pro-lifers are the religious right types who freak the hell out if schools teach sex ed or if the nurse hands out condoms. They tend to want contraceptive measures and education to be as unobtainable as possible. These are also the types who usually bitch about welfare and love to point out how Welfare pays people to have babies. I mean, come on!!! Something has to give. If you don’t want to educate people and you don’t want to provide contraception to teens and you don’t want abortions and you don’t want aid to people who need it, then what is the solution? None of these people ever seem to stop and think of the life that the child will have if it is carried to term.
Yeah, I agree. If you are going to be pro-life you should be all for birth control being available and cheap/free!
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I am in the “sentient being” camp.
You seem to be taking man’s interpretation of religious virtues and skewing them with what the bible teaches. You are painting with a broad brush here.
Um, nope. Yes, this woman is a evil as hell, yes animal life is worth a hell of a lot more than we value it or pay for it, but intrinsically worth as much as human life? You’ve lost my vote. If pictures of human concentration camp victims don’t make you feel more pity and anger than these horses, if any foal’s life bears equal weight to any baby’s life, then there is something askew with your moral compass. But then I don’t live in a country with the death penalty or partial birth abortion, so maybe I’m not as desensitised to horror as you guys.
I’m not desensitized to horror. I simply don’t see WHY humans are more valuable than animals. If you don’t have a religion-based reason for that belief, then why? What is the logical foundation for it?
To me, a foal’s life does bear equal weight to a baby’s life. Some of those babies are going to grow up to be serial killers. How many foals are going to grow up to take a life deliberately? None.
Um, well I am a Christian but leaving aside those arguments, no foal is going to grow up wanting to make the world a better place or to make people laugh, or to be Martin Luther King or Mahatma Ghandi or Oskar Schindler or Aretha Franklin either. The point is you don’t know how people will turn out. A foal is most definitely going to be a horse. And once you start evaluating the worth of other people’s lives I think there’s your Radium Girls or your Tuskegee study right there. Hell, if they’d used convicts, would it have been OK? Plus if you honestly think the suffering of a horse who loses another horse is equal to that of a human who loses another human, say to cancer, or as a cot death or in the WTC or to a traffic accident, I’ve got nothing for you. I’m so far off your wavelength I can’t see how to make an argument which might hold any weight.
I personally believe all testing should be done on convicted murderers, rapists and child molesters instead of on animals, so there’s your answer. We definitely are not on the same wavelength.
I’m 110% with you on that one FUGS! I personally am a lot more sensible to the suffering of an animal than a human being because, unlike humans, animals will never hurt anyone out of spite, envy, greed or sheer evil.
Except just today I was reading a news story about a guy who spent almost 2 decades on death row because the prosecutors suppressed a blood test that showed he was innocent.
I don’t trust our criminal justice system as far as I can throw it.
My horse Champ makes me laugh on a daily basis, and I 100% believe he does it on purpose. We’ve had each other for over twelve years, and he knows how I’m feeling. He knows when I need to see him doing something goofy, like handing me brushes out of the tack trunk or making his lip curly face, and when I just need a giant horse head pressed against my chest. When we lost his pasture mate Lightning to old age, he absolutely mourned. He constantly took care of the older horse, guiding him when his vision started to fail, and galloping up and down the fence line, making as much noise as possible every time he would lay down the wrong way and not be able to get himself back up. He worried about him all the time, and when Lightning died, Champ suffered. He wouldn’t come to the barn, he wanted nothing to do with me. He was usually a voracious eater, but went weeks barely touching his grain. He stood in the place where Lightning died, pacing back and forth or just sunbathing, for I don’t know how long. He totally killed the grass there, and now three years later, it still won’t grow right. Of course he eventually moved on, but I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten about his old buddy. Horses absolutely have feelings and emotions, and they’re much more pure than those of most humans.
“if you honestly think the suffering of a horse who loses another horse is equal to that of a human who loses another human”
I do believe that – I know horses are not capable of reasoning to the point we are, however, I know they can suffer. My mother bred a mare of hers when she was younger – the foal had a freak heart attack and died when it was around 6 months old. Subsequently, the dam had to be locked in a cattle yard so that she could not cause herself injury (no, I’m not suggesting horses have suicidal tendencies, she was simply distraught and was putting herself in danger). My mother said that it was the saddest thing she has ever seen – her mare swayed from side to side and apparently cried – I know people say horses can’t cry, but there ARE cases where people have SEEN horses crying due to pain, either physical or emotional and honestly, I believe it. If you google it, it says it has been proven. So I absolutely believe that horses can feel as sad as humans at the loss of a close friend or a foal.
http://www.operationhorserescue.blogspot.com
I havre no truck with religion in any form, it is what causes ALL the problems in the world today without exception. Tell me when was the last time a group of atheists flew a plane into a buliding or started a war. Or oppressed women or any other “minority” group?
That having been said, Life is Life. There is absolutely NO difference between a foal and a human baby- both are helpless innocents and both deserve a good quality of life.
We farm animals and we kill them for food- we have no right to do this, but, so long as we remember it is not a “god given” right, so long as we treat the animals with respect and humanity, and so long as they have a good death, I can see nothing wrong with it.
Would I like to see all slaughter houses inspected far more zealously?
You bet.
If that meant the price of meat went up- OK- meat is a luxury, not a necessity and, anyway, I am afraid it would not affect me as I “grow my own” as it were, and our slaughter house is BRILLIANT, there is no other word for it. We searched and we found what we wanted.
Our free range, happy “meat” is still cheaper than the shops.
But I am with you on this, 100%. Human life is no more important than any other life and as to a pig never becoming a MLK- so what? Who says he was important?
Only human beings. To a pig, or a cow, he has no relevance at all. Nor to a horse.
Take “god” out of the mix, completely, and you just have the basics- Life and nothing more.
Humans think they are SO great, but they are just an evolved ape, nothing more, nothing less.
Life is life.
There is no discernable difference between the life force that feeds an amoeba and the life force that feeds a human.
Some of us eat meat, I do, but I never feel it is my inherent right to eat it, that I also have a right to make the animal I eat suffer so that I can dehumanise the situation to the point where I just see a lump of meat….
Having said that, I wish I had the same right to end human life, when the human is suffering and requests it, that I have to end an animals’ suffering.
I do believe it is the mothers right to not bear a child if she so desires, I do not think anyone has the right to force someone to have a baby, but the “cut off” point is a very grey area and the whole thing needs a lot more research and sympathetic handling, far more than it is getting at the moment!
WHY on earth did the Slaughter Bill go through without a “No crossing state lines!” clause, anyway????
And that woman?
Once again, the” march of the fat abusers” is playing. One of these days, I live in hope, there will be a case of animals starving and the abuser will be bulimic…..
I know it comes off as fat bashing but honestly…it’s just so FRUSTRATING when someone is well fed and the animals are starving. It would garner much more sympathy if the person were also destitute and obviously starving!
Six figure salary and 50 or more pounds overweight, sorry, no sympathy for you, Stacey.
The abusers are people with little to no responsibility, poor impulse control, and no sense of consequences. Do you really expect someone like that is going to put time and energy into staying physically fit? Narcissists like Meduna aside, it doesn’t surprise me that many people who can’t be bothered to FEED THEIR ANIMALS also can’t be bothered to take care of their bodies.
(Before anyone gets their panties in a twist – I am saying that irresponsibility can lead to weight gain among other problems, NOT that people who are overweight are necessarily irresponsible. Thanks.)
I’m 90 pounds over weight and I will raise my hand and say that I have poor impulse control and I won’t take the responsibilty to take the time to take care of myself because it’s too stinking hard. It’s a lot easier to eat those 329,000 extra calories than it is to get rid of them! So while not all overweight people are irresponsible it is feasible that many irresponsible hoarders/abusers will be overweight as well.
I <3 you on that…good for you, you know totally WHY you’re overweight.
I know a lot of people that were for years and years and one day something just kicked in and they got the motivation to just stop doing that to themselves. But it’s hard. I think food may be the worst addiction.
Kate I am in the same boat as you – very overweight but fully aware of why and how to take it off – I have started and stopped more diets than I can list here and probably know just about everything about nutrition, exercise (I have read enough) – just apparently not how to STAY on a diet:(
On the other hand, even as a poor student not so long ago I made sure my cats had the best food and nursed my kitty through the final stages of CRF, including all medications and vet care. I have paid to have them euthanized because I could not bear to see them suffer, even when I could not afford real food for myself (hello KD…aka orange death…aka the secret to my ginormous butt). My cats are my responsibility, my joy and my family. I do everything I can to make them happy BECAUSE it is my responsibility and my joy.
I wish that people who do what these people did not only have jail time but also have to suffer the same abuse they have dished out – but if wishes were horses I’d have a herd to fill the prairies…
Chell, I struggle with my weight also, and usually my weight wins. But because I constantly battle to overcome the hunger that I experience on each of these diets, I know what hunger feels like, and I would hate to have my animal or any animal experience it. My cat’s and dogs’ food bowls are always filled with high quality dry food that they can eat at any time, and interestingly enough the indoor spayed female cats are slightly overweight, but no one has a real weight problem (except for me). And if a stray shows up at my door I feed it, too.
I don’t know why this woman neglected her horses in this way, and I think that it’s sick that she was only held on $15,000.00 bail, but our ancestors refused to adopt the Constitution until a section outlawing “cruel and unusual punishment” was included. The definition of that type of punishment has changed over the years, as has the concept of animal cruelty, but I’ll go with the Founding Fathers- they were wise individuals, and they had their reasons.
I completely agree that the value of life is and should be a balance of ALL life, not only superiority for humans. I’m a realist. Nature has dictated since the beginning of time that there needs to be balance and we have done everything in our power to tip the scales against every living being other than ourselves . We’re supposed to be of superior intellect, yet we have polluted every waterway we’ve ever come in contact with and eradicated God knows how many plants and animals into extinction. We’re fighting tooth and nail daily over resources because there are just too damned many of us for the space we have. The animals were here long before us and will probably be here long after we radiate ourselves to death. The animals are the innocents yet they’re abused, starved and neglected to death without regard for their lives. Where is the balance?
I personally do not have children by choice and have dedicated my life to animals. I feel like puking whenever I hear reference of the Duggar’s as if they’re some kind of heroes for screwing like rabbits and popping out kids every year or two. Seriously people, we do not need MORE people, we need BETTER people. It’s time to save mankind as a whole by throwing out the trash. If some serial murderer is on death row (who’s that CA guy, the Night Stalker?) for double digit years, why even have a death penalty? He’ll never contribute to society in any way, he needs to go to sleep forever, like NOW and stop sucking up hard-working tax payers’ money on appeals. This country has NO BALLS anymore, for all of our sakes, let’s grow a set Washington! And yes, I’m a right winger swamp yankee and my views are hard core for a liberal to take. But life is hard core and all the frosting in the world can’t cover up this lopsided cake we call America. IMNSHO, the dog killer needs to be shot in the head now, before he kills humans. Definite serial killer in the making and some people out there still think he can be saved. He’s broken, he can’t be fixed – he needs to go away for good. Stacy needs to lose her job and do some hard time. CU Next Tuesday that she is. Rant over.
“Seriously people, we do not need MORE people, we need BETTER people.”
Oh, AMEN! Unfortunately, it is just as my mother predicted 20 years ago…the worst people are having the most kids. I honestly don’t even mind the Duggars BECAUSE they are self-supporting and not criminals! I don’t care that I don’t agree with their beliefs. At least they aren’t raising 18 or 19 or whatever they’re up to now kids in squalor in some crack den or some trailer where Daddy molests them and Mommy is drunk all the time. The Duggars may be religiously radical but, heck, their house is clean, their kids have manners and nobody’s gotten arrested yet despite being famous for years now. Reproduce all you want, you apparently WIN at parenting, certainly compared to everybody ELSE with a TV show (Yes, stupid famewhore Kardashian mom and Dina Lohan, I’m talking to YOU).
“Reproduce all you want, you apparently WIN at parenting” , I disagree big time with this, you may be the most responsible parents in the entire world, but it is still irresponsible to fill this world up with more people when it cannot support the ones that are currently here. It is selfish and completely irresponsible to continue producing when our resources are going to run out.
If those 18 kids have 4 kids each (I am sure they will have more) then that is 72 kids, then they have 4 kids each, that’s 288, then they have 4 that’s 1152. In four generations that is over 1000 people coming from one family because they had so many children. And 4 is a low number, there is a good chance they will have even more. There is nothing responsible about producing that many offspring even if you can care for them without begging the government for money. And to be honest (I may get slammed big time for this), I would rather see a crack whore with one child instead of the Duggar’s with 18, despite the fact that they are much better parents.
Meh, but look at all the people not having any children, like me. There are a lot of people not having children, at least in America. The world population may still be rising at a staggering rate, but is it in the U.S.? (I’m asking, I don’t know for sure, it just seems like I know a lot of childfree adults).
Apparently the US fertility rate is about 2.01 per woman, which is not a bad number really (this implies a pretty consistent population growth, not including immigration numbers), though for industrialized countries this is actually a high amount of growth. So realistically, it means for every one of your female friends without kids, someone is having four. I’d assume part of why you know so many people without kids is similar interest- people enjoy hanging out with people with similar mindsets and lifestyles. Ie, I’m 23, and won’t be having kids for a while, and I’m in a relationship, so I don’t hang out with my friends who are having kids already or the friends who are single and wanting to go clubbing all the time as much I see other friends who are childless and in relationships (or single but not looking to spend every moment finding someone).
In general though, I think people are becoming more aware of the impact on the environment of having children, and a lot more families are opting to only have two kids. They are still expecting the world population to hit 9 billion by 2050.
“Seriously people, we do not need MORE people, we need BETTER people. It’s time to save mankind as a whole by throwing out the trash.”
What’s your definition of trash here? And what do you propose by way of ‘throwing them out’?
Ok, I’ll go out on a limb here on how I would throw out the trash. Let’s say we start by implementing the death penalty for all convicted criminals. Put a cap on the appeals process of a reasonable time frame, like 1 year. And then do it! Tighten up our prisons and put the most dangerous criminals in solitary confinement. We’re talking about survival of civilization here, survival of the earth itself. We create a world of our own making and if we keep living in denial and putting a value on every human life, no matter how skewed it is, they will become our peers. Let’s say we now have 80% decent people and 20% murderers, rapists, child molesters, thieves. If we feel pity for this peer group and increase their civil rights, then you can be dam sure that the numbers will begin to sway and maybe in 10 years it’ll be 70/30, then 60/40. Do you want live in fear of 4 out of 10 of your neighbors? I don’t! We only survive as a society if we make rules, apply them and live by them – period. Those outside the box, the cold hearted who only take from others need to be eliminated from our society. OUR society. Whether people want to believe it or not, we are well on the way to a collapse of a civilized world. I know there are some realists out there writing on this topic and you are the people I want as my neighbors and peers. And I’ll bet you’re of the working class variety and you obviously speak English and care about animal kind. I’d wager that you know as I do that tough love is the only answer. Get the lazy working, get the druggies tested and take away their free rides. Maybe if people had to work to get a welfare check, they’d get a reality check as well. You want a government subsidized life? Then get out there and work for the government – pick up trash, file papers, learn ENGLISH, mow town and State lawns and parks…. There are endless jobs that could be had for the price of a welfare check. Why should anyone get a free ride???????
Well, the people that I have worked with who speak Spanish have sucked off of the government a lot less than the ones who speak English. The Spanish speaking help always works their butts off, live simple lives, and only benefit from the public in that their children go to school ,get educated, and LEARN ENGLISH. These folks never say “no” to any job. The grooms who have been white English-speaking Americans typically have been sucking off of the government for everything from health care to child care to disability. These are the folks who have every luxury that I cannot afford and refuse to do any shitty job on the farm. They know how to work the system, even though they speak English… shocker. As far as people being lazy and not speaking English… trying to find English-speaking stall cleaners at a big farm is damn near impossible. White folks don’t want to do that work. It is too hard and beneath them. If they do want to clean stalls then they expect to ride. They are totally self-entitled.
Just wanted to toss my two cents into this debate. My personal belief is that humans have no more worth than any other creature on this planet. I feel worse when shown pictures of horses in starving condition being mistreated by people than I do about concentration camp pictures. It doesn’t mean I am not horrified by what happened to those people in those camps, but I am more disgusted with what is done to these equines. I don’t think my moral compass is broken, it simply points a different way than other people’s. As for intrinsic value, I gauge that based on nature, I have a very ecocentric view of the world and that is how I base human kind’s value on this planet. I believe humans are some of the most useless creatures on this planet, we have succeeded in destroying so much beauty and so many of our fellow organisms. I do not think we have dominion over anything, we are just as subject to the laws of nature as anything else. My view of the world means bees are much more valuable than humans, take away bees and the planet would die, take away humans and the planet would flourish (until another catastrophic event like a meteor). I would highly suggest a book called “The World Without Us” by Alan Weisman, it is really interesting and a great read. Anyway, in my opinion humans are worth much less than the majority of other organisms on this planet, we are not above them, we don’t get to have dominion over them.
I also think there isn’t a single thing wrong with SOME of us being more upset by evil against humans and SOME of us being more upset by evil against animals – because that means that EVERYBODY has someone committed to fighting the evils against them. Isn’t that a good thing? It’s like how I choose to donate to horse charities but you may choose to donate to cancer and someone else may choose to donate to a homeless shelter. Hello, it’s all good.
In terms of what upsets me more, I’m a Nurse (human kind) because I find it easier to be professional with dying people than dying animals.
In terms of what life is worth more? whats up with this them and us mentality? why are humans above nature? is animal life worth more?… we are animals, humans are mammals. End if story. Your average human has an I.Q of 100 right? well your average chimp has an I.Q of 80. But yeah we’re just soo superior we couldn’t possible associate ourselves with them. Heck even Parrots have about the same I.Q as your average kinder-gardener. For a human to be defined as mentally retarded I.Q should be under 70. Not to mention all the studies supporting other animals as having well developed emotions. My point is our reasoning for being superior to others is flawed. We are not that much smarter, we do not have a monopoly on emotion.
The way we view ourselves is utterly flawed, Our scientist are closing the gap between humans and non-human animals constantly. We are humans, we are animals, we are apes and we are not worth more.
Oh and check out this little guy is you don’t believe me about the parrot thing. They only mimic because we teach them to. They can actually learn to speak and understand out language very well if you take the time to teach them properly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6KvPN_Wt8I
I love your post.
The way we view ourselves is 100% ego. We think we are the most important species, and who decided that? Us, of course!
I was at a festival once and a woman there had her cockatoo on a leash, perched on her shoulder.
I don’t know much about parrots (did own a budgie once, but although they’re parrots, they’re not in the same intelligence league as the larger ones. Plus, I was five). But I said hi to the owner, then introduced myself to the bird…not sure what insight led me to do so.
CLEARLY, that bird responded with ‘Hi’ and its name…most people would have thought it was doing the ‘pretty polly’ thing…but it wasn’t. It was introducing itself! (Sadly, I’ve forgotten it’s name…and I’m not even clear on sex, I *think* it was a female). And that was when it clicked…that these birds DO know what they’re saying. I don’t think I could actually have one as a pet, not the way they’re generally kept.
Although I felt a bit sorry for Alex in that video, with his repeated ‘go back’…he clearly wanted to go get his supper or something
lol, I have a cockatiel that I have had since I was 10. At that age I obviously didn’t know what I was doing while training him but he did manage to learn the meanings of a few words. He says hello when I enter the room, he knows its a greeting. Sometimes he will say it if i’m busy and he wants attention or if i’m eating somethings he wants haha. He says good night when i turn off the lights at night. He says goodbye when he hears me at the front door in the morning and sometimes when i leave the room if hes not intending to follow me. It’s pretty cool, if i say goodbye when i’m not going somewhere he looks at me blankly and wont say it back.
“I simply don’t see WHY humans are more valuable than animals. If you don’t have a religion-based reason for that belief, then why? What is the logical foundation for it?”
If human life is not intrinsically valuable and worth preserving, then what does make it valuable? What we can do? If that’s where our value comes from, why should we bother feeding people who can’t do as much? There lies the road to eugenics. We’re okay with that in animals, it’s called selective breeding. We’re totally not okay with that in humans. Why, if not that we’re a species apart? We MUST believe that human life is valuable and different from animal life if we’re going to avoid treating people like animals.
There’s your amateur philosophy bit for the day. I’m done now.
the answer to your question is that humans are (mostly) species-centric…its why many humans feel we are the pinnacle of evolution (the ones who believe in it) or the best of the creations (for the creationists) or what have you…most animals are probably just as species-centric in their wild environments…i’m not about to go ask most of them as they would probably just eat me because i am a lesser being by virtue of being foodable
(random aside) i think plants are far more evolved than animals…not only did they evolve in an environment with thousands of times more food (in the form of carbon dioxide) and have since adapted…you can grow an entire plant from one cell…its just crazy…i bet plants are species-centric too…if they have thoughts that is…(starting to sound crazy even to myself now >.< )
anyway…back on point…its the same reason ethno-centric people justify putting down/hurting/killing other races…and why creedo-centric people (not sure that one is a word but i'll go with it) justify putting down/hurting/killing people of different religions/beliefs/practices/whathaveyou…
I always think it’s an interesting question what would happen if something catastrophic took place and our modern conveniences were gone…who would survive in the wild? I am fairly resourceful and don’t freak out under pressure but I don’t know much about surviving in the wild. I’m sure I’d eat something poisonous and kill myself!
Just a reminder that some of us who believe in “that” God should NOT be lumped in with the people who condone abuse…
I’m a supporter of this blog, animal rights/ethics, and this story makes me as sick as anyone else… (in fact I don’t even have words for how I feel about this woman at the moment o_o )
For the record, I’m on the other side of the political fence and I know many anti-slaughter Republicans who aren’t committed to stomping on women and gays and torturing puppies.
Nor do I hate Christians, even though I’m not one. I do however hate hypocrites who use God as an excuse for their bad behavior, like those moronic Westboro Baptist Church people. The Bible is full of contradictions and too many folks like to pick and choose portions of it that they like. Based upon that, I’d like to use the part about an eye for an eye to do to Nally whatever he did to the puppies…for that, I’m on board!
Yeah, makes it tough to be a conservative and a non-christian, doesn’t it?
I’m an economic conservative, social liberal on some topics, vegetarian, non-Christian, animal rights, pro-life, pro-birth control, pro-death penalty person. There is no niche I fall into. I usually just vote for whoever I think will do the least damage to me, economically, since Feeding The Poneez is my #1 issue.
To go back to a previous point – you don’t think humans are more valuable than animals, and we all know you’re a-okay with horsie abortions, and euthanasia for pretty much any reason including ‘I don’t feel like taking care of it’. So why are you pro-life?
(Not taking a dig at you for being pro-life. Just curious about the apparent contradiction.)
Read all the research (in medical journals) and think we are aborting creatures that can feel pain. I don’t see how you can do that and be morally correct, in any world.
I have no problem with morning-after pills and I’m totally 100% pro birth control and think sterilization should be available free of charge to anyone who wants it done.
I am a Christian and I also hate hypocrites who use God as an excuse for their bad behavior, like those moronic Westboro Baptist Church people. Do you have any idea of the size of that church? I forget the exact congregation size, but it is quite small – mostly the family of the pastor; yet that small group of brain-curdled extremist, whose behavior is anything but Christ-like, defines Christianity to much of the non-Christian population. It makes me sick.
The Westboro Baptist Church people seem to exist solely to piss the rest of us off. I am a big fan of freedom of speech (obviously) but when they start protesting at military funerals…AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH! I wish I could fly around the country with an even bigger sign that says STFU! in neon blinking lights.
I am a big fan of Freedom of Speech too, but I think the Supreme Court had a major Fail on this one.
You definitely hit the nail on the head. I have lived in 4 countries in Europe and they have much better animal cruelty laws compared to here yet so many ignorant people in this country don’t want “big government” because we will turn into “socialists”.
I saw a lot of the personal politicking behindthebarns is talking about when I was researching a book on working animals. People who looked the other way when their neighbors starved their cattle or horses defended themselves by saying that animals were property just as surely as land was, and anyone who wished to intercede was a commie or worse.
I want to know how the HELL Ms. Ballard could walk away from that Hell Hole… watching a horse thrash around dying (why was Kempf not ordered to get a vet out IMMEDIATELY to euth it?)… and why the DOA was so damn slow to react? It’s not like it was a little sloppy and there were a few horses who just needed a little weight. It’s just… ugh…
So, what can your fugly readers DO, without making the situation worse, to help make sure her case is not “swept under the rug” because of her connections.
One thing you can always do is ask the national media to pick up on the case. So far that hasn’t really happened.
CNN: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form11b.html
Fox: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77538,00.html
Fugs…where are these horse being adopted? Live in WI and willing to help.
Central Illinois Horse Rescue
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Central-IL-Horse-Rescue/369969933421?sk=wall
For those who are not Facebook members, the Central Illinois Horse Rescue public website is : http://cilhorserescue.com/ .
These two stories are examples of why my grown children have instructions to euthanize the horses, dogs and cats here if something unexpected happens to me, and they cannot afford to care for these animals themselves.
I have several friends who think my instructions are cruel, but given the alternatives so graphicly described or pictured in these two stories of animal abuse, torture and murder, I think any animal would prefer a peaceful end over what could happen to them at the hands of “people” like these.
I don’t know what’s more pathetic – that fucking lowlife Stacey, or the fact that the legal system would struggle for years to, IF lucky, give her a fine and maybe a few months probation.
She should be locked up in the correction facility that she is working in – without food and minimal water, and left in the hands of the convicts who, I’m sure, would appreciate the gesture, until she expires. Alternatively, I sincerely hope she gets boiled alive in a freak accident, and succumbs in suffering a couple of weeks later, after the infection finally reaches the vital organs through all that fat.
The connection between animal abuse and human abuse has been discussed on this site. Even criminals do not deserve to the subjected to the “care” of someone as negligent and callas as Ms. Kempf. I think this would be a good point to make when requesting that she be removed from the state of IL payroll. I wonder how many teachers salaries that 117,000 would pay?
I see that Ms. Kempf actually works for the IL Department of Juvenile Justice, not the Department of Corrections. Stacey Kempf is exactly who act-risk juveniles do NOT need in their lives.
That’s the first thing I thought of when I read this. Anyone who treats animals like this should well, first of all, be in jail, but definitely not be in charge of or have power over children. That is a really scary thing. Of course her job may not put her in contact with children — let’s hope.
The other thing that occurs to me is that people could contact the governor’s office. If it is true that her father was influential in keeping her from being investigated or charged, then people should be outraged. And even those who might minimize crimes against animals should recognize that if favoritism/corruption is happening in this case, it is happening in other cases as well.
That little red dun mare made me cry. Even in death she is still sitting up, trying to stay out of the mud as much as possible. All her neck and face look as clean as possible under such horrid conditions. I can just imagine how horrified she would have been of all that filth to have died in a sternal position, unbelievable.
How did that bitch get so fat while her horses were starving to death in filth 30 minutes from her home? Does she have other animals? One would hope not – she probably ate them…
With all due respect, I know many lovely people who have tried to adopt animals and been turned away because the adopting agency “had a feeling about them.” This recently happened to an friend of mine who has two well-behaved dog-loving children, a fine husband, and a dog which recently died of extreme old age. She is in all ways a PERFECT home for a dog, yet after home visits, references, vet interview, and much jumping through hoops, the person she was adopting from called to say she just had a feeling about her and she couldn’t have a puppy after all.
It does happen, especially when the person refusing to adopt out the animal has hoarding tendencies and is looking for any excuse not to rehome an animal.
Speaking for myself I’m not aware of a case where I had heebie jeebies and it turned out to be fine, but I am aware of many cases where I felt fine about people who later turned out to be evil as shit. Paul Valliere seemed to me to be a lovely man who loved horses, yet he electrocuted them for money. I once spent the night dancing with a man who seemed charming and respectable and later the same night sodomized my friend and bit chunks out of her flesh. No hackles rose about that guy AT ALL. Not for me nor for any of the other two dozen people who interacted with him the same night. One of my husband’s college buddies was the most trustworthy seeming person you ever met – and also would steal anything that wasn’t nailed down. In later years he was caught multiple times for doing things like stealing pallets of computers, and each time plea bargained down to community service because he just seemed to the judge like “Such a nice guy, not the kind of person who would do something like this.” For obvious reasons he’s not one of our friends anymore, but the last I heard about him, he still had never done any real time. Not to mention that I used to be a case worker for abused children. How many of them do you think were molested by just the NICEST seeming people? Even when faced with photographic and forensic evidence, all too many people say, “Oh, it can’t be true, Mr. So-and-so is SO NICE.” Well, if a child rapist is what you call “nice,” then okay, but otherwise, you’re an idiot.
DO NOT TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS. Your instincts are stupid. Study after study shows that the overwhelming majority of people can’t tell a real smile from a fake one, a criminal from a nice guy, or anything else of value about their fellow human beings. Whereas meaningless factors like what color someone is wearing, how tall they are, or how much they resemble your father, have a strong influence on how well you think of that person. Instead of your instincts, trust your brains and always, always check everything there is to check. If there’s some resistance to checking, that should raise your hackles.
I believe in trusting your instincts, but if your instincts say EVERYBODY IS BAD, you need therapy.
I also believe in background checking and google searching, as you know. Instinct is merely the first early warning sign.
And some people in rescue have gone batshit crazy and won’t adopt to anyone…this is obviously a problem. I would say that I have probably approved 50% of potential adoptions in the cat world…many of those people disqualified themselves by an answer they gave on a questionnaire. Which is why we give the questionnaire! But I know people whose standards are different…everybody varies. I will adopt out to a home that says they wouldn’t spend $500 on vet for a cat, but would instead euth. I will not adopt out to a home that lets their cat go outside.
We once considered getting a cat and found out the humane society here will not adopt to anyone who has an immediate family member who lets their cat go outside…which means they won’t adopt to me, living in a 12th floor apartment and with no way to let a cat go outside even if I wanted to (which I wouldn’t, as we have coyotes WELL into the city here, let alone the traffic) because my mother-in-law LIVES ON A FARM AND HAS BARN CATS. How ridiculous can you get? Seriously…
Yeah, if the offending family member isn’t in the house, who CARES? That’s too extreme for me.
I have more problem with adopting to someone who will not let their cat go outside.
Cats are, by nature, outside animals and someone who wants to keep a free spirit cooped up all the time smacks to me of a control freak. I would rather a cat was run over, living as it is intended to live, than spend it’s life in isolation from everything it holds dear!
I have, as you can imagine, never had an “inside” cat.
I do not have a problem with well thought out and “for a reason” inside cats- a young agoraphobic who would not, for obvious reasons, let her cat out, was not turned away, but I was careful which kittens I placed with her, and she had to take two.
No, sorry, unless there is real danger (coyotes I would accept as “real danger”) to the cat I prefer them to have access to outside.
Oh, free spirit, rubbish. I am sitting here with two cats and a little dog on the bed…they don’t need to roam. They are quite content sleeping curled up on my comforter all day. They have a window ledge if they want to enjoy fresh air and the outdoors. A cat has no more protection from cars, crazy people, etc. than a tiny child does – would you leave them outside?
I rescued a kitten that had been taped to a bottle rocket and lit. That is what cats face outdoors.
Average lifespan of outdoor cat, two. Average lifespan of indoor cat, twelve.
My parent’s outdoor/indoor cat is 12 years old and going strong. Actually, they are having to keep her in at night now. There are strays around and she will still fight with invaders of her territory. She is allowed out when under supervision during the day.
As long as the farm was well-populated with people and domestic animals, we did not have a problem with stray and wild animals. Now that it is just may parents and the cat, they are more of a problem. I think part of it is that there is no longer a water tank out at the barn. I know a lot of wild animal would drink there because I saw the tracks. Now they have skunks, possums, and raccoons coming to drink at the cat’s water dish because it is the only water source on the farm.
We had farm cats, sometimes several at a time, during the years I was growing up. I do not know their average life span, but it was well over 2 years. My personal cat lived into her teens.
I would never allow a cat outside in a city, town, village, suburb, or whatever. They can pick up a kidney disease (I don’t recall the name now) which will kill them. A friend of mine learned that the hard way. I think that a farm which was free of the disease would be safe, assuming no coyotes, raccoons, stray dogs, stray cats, etc. I don’t recall enough about the transmission of the disease to know if strays passing through could pass it on.
That is a weak argument. Because if that was the case and we let all our pets live as they desire or by their nature, humans would not be involved in their lives at all. All animals start out as free spirits until we came along and domesticated certain ones. You would have to pull up your fences, knock down your barn and turn your horses loose also. Horses do not desire to be behind our fences or in our barns or have us on their backs. Just turn them loose so they can live by their nature. If you have any animals that are kept as pets, turn them loose too. Because it is against their nature. At least it was. Then we, humans, domesticated them. Key word: Domesticated. Once we do that we have changed and manipulated their desires and the nature and that means it is our responsibility to keep them safe. By domesticating animals, cats, dogs, horses and so on, we have taken away their natural ability to fend for themselves in what use to be their natural environment.
do·mes·ti·cate
[duh-mes-ti-keyt] Show IPA
verb, -cat·ed, -cat·ing.
–verb (used with object)
1.
to convert (animals, plants, etc.) to domestic uses; tame.
2.
to tame (an animal), especially by generations of breeding, to live in close association with human beings as a pet or work animal and usually creating a dependency so that the animal loses its ability to live in the wild.
3.
to adapt (a plant) so as to be cultivated by and beneficial to human beings.
4.
to accustom to household life or affairs.
5.
to take (something foreign, unfamiliar, etc.) for one’s own use or purposes; adopt.
6.
to make more ordinary, familiar, acceptable, or the like: to domesticate radical ideas.
I’ll be keeping my cats indoors. For me, there is nothing worse than seeing a cat or a dog laying dead on the side of the road. It makes me very angry at people for not taking care of their responsibility. I got home and love my cats and dogs and am very happy that I’ll never see any of them dead on the road. Because getting hit by a vehicle isn’t natural for a animal either.
Have you ever heard of the “car”? They are sort of like a box with doors and four wheels… I hear they are pretty common in most parts of America?
What sort of idiot do you have to be not to realize there is real danger for any outdoor cat? If your own good sense doesn’t tell you this, do some reading and look at statistics. The average lifespan of an indoor cat is four to five times that of an outdoor one.
Well, she’s not offending. BARN cat. Vermin control. Working animal doing its job and keeping the vermin from eating the eggs in the chicken coop. That’s a completely different thing from a pet cat and should be viewed accordingly. Admittedly, said cat has a purr like a steam engine and likes to sneak in to the house through the second story windows…but she’s still there to kill mice not to be a pet. And she’s a smart kitty who doesn’t wander off the property and keeps her eye open for vehicles in the driveway
. So, I have no problem with it.
Personally, if I had a cat in a house I’d build a cat run so it could be outdoors, but not get into traffic or be got to by coyotes.
I know people who have built runs like that, and they are wonderful! Best of both worlds.
That is the first thing on my list of to-do’s when I finally own my own home.
Agree on all points for keeping a cat inside, cannot bear to see them on the road and even worse still in the middle of the road after being hit. Always stop to move them, and one stop the poor kitten was still alive albeit in terrible shape. Took it to the closest vet to euth and expected to pay, but they did it for free.
I have a feral kitty in my house who has turned into the biggest love bug with me and a chosen few. My new kitty was on her own for about a year before being brought to SPCA where she almost died of an upper-respiratory tract infection – definitely was somebody’s pet she is so affectionate – loves everybody. Kills me someone left her outside to fend for herself, however it happened. Then nobody wanted her because of the defect in her eye (from the infection) – I think they are all crazy but their loss is my gain:)
We are doing that off of the sun room in our house. I’ll take a picture once it’s done. It’s basically just enclosing our deck for the cats and putting all kinds of cat trees out there for them so they can sun themselves. We are putting a roof on ours though so that they can still enjoy it if it’s raining.
Been there too – we wanted to adopt from our local HS our next “farm dog”(we had our last one PTS at age 13 a few months earlier and I missed his early warning system when folks were coming up the drive). No can do, they want only indoor homes for these dogs. The dogs we looked at were a Golden Retriever/Great Pyranees cross and a Chow/Heeler cross. BOTH built to be outdoor dogs(wasn’t asking for a yorkie). It did not matter to them that we had a large indoor outdoor kennel with a heat lamp in the winter. That in the worst weather, the dog would be allowed in the house. That we had adopted from another rescue in the past with succcess – our last adoptee was a heeler/GSD cross who lived to the ripe old age of 14. That we had 3 wonderful references, plus one from our vet. That ALL of my barn cats(9) currently are all spayed or nuetered and vaccinated(we arrived with 3-the other 6 are dump offs). OR that we had two happy healthy dogs in our home. Nope, didn’t matter. What mattered was that the other two dogs were not spayed or neutered. They are registered shelties. I have had 1 litter of pups, I know where they all are and have contact with their owners. They were sold with a buy back clause and limited registration. I am sure all of this would lead one to the conclusion I am not a responsible pet owner. (Never mind that their rules require you take possession of the dog AFTER it’s been spayed.) They asked no questions about the application – just highlighted the “not-fixed” areas and said NO.
We did end up with the Heeler/Chow because I am NOT one to put up with stupidity. They were denying a dog a wonderful home, for no good reason and we had a discussion, lengthy and respectful about their “rules”. This folks is NOT how to get folks to adopt from HS…..this sends people to puppy mills because they always say yes. Were they following their instincts or just their rules…I don’t know…..but whatever it is…..it’s not working. BTW “Roxy” is thrilled with her new digs….is happy, bouncy and lovable…..however she doesn’t bark much….LOL. Doesn’t matter, she’s part of the family now!
See, yet another reason I purchased my cat rather than adopting. First of all I wanted a Siamese and no suitable ones were available from rescues (and we did look) but in addition to that… you are not welcome in my life just because I once got a pet from you. No you may NOT visit my home whenever you want to in perpetuity for an inspection. Geez, even the police need a warrant!
I understand the need for care, I understand that there are bad people out there, but really… don’t most reasonable people have an expectation of privacy in their own homes? There has to be some sort of compromise between what the average person looking to adopt a pet is willing to put up with and the need to have some assurance that a pet’s not going to be used in ritual Satan worship, or people will continue to adopt from breeders because it’s easier, and the pets at shelters will continue to be put to sleep.
I just went through the same thing and ended up adopting two beautiful cats from a guy who rounds up stray ferals and gets them spayed/neutered then releases. He had 9 cats and I adopted 2 so he could have room for some more adoptable cats. The two cats I ended up with are semi-feral and are not adoptable quality because they did not do well when taken to the public adoption places. He was thrilled they they would have a home in my barn living the cat life and being well cared for. I just need ratters so I don’t care if they rub all over me when I come to the barn, although I do try to give them affection when they aren’t hissing at me lol! The Humane society and the SPCA should consider allowing adoption to people that have property and barns because even if you have a house cat there is no guarantee they won’t get out and get run over or mauled by a dog. My cats go into the feed room for safety and can get up on the hay or underneath the hay pallets if threatened.
In my experience, honey smoked turkey has tamed many a semiferal. Spend a little time sitting in the tack room tossing bits at them and you may have snuggly cats yet. THANK YOU for giving them a home!
For some reason this all reminds me of when I was in college. The barn cat had a pair of kittens (I know, I know, but hey, not my cat, and you do need to breed the odd litter to keep them around). I talked to the instructor, then went to get my helmet, which I’d left in the tack room.
…and found it, ahem, occupied. I have never felt so mean in my LIFE as when I had to wake up two sleeping three month olds and evict them so I could ride.
That’s just silly. How do you define a mother-in-law as immediate family? I’m sure they mean people living with you.
Could you please send me the questionnaire you use for your cats? We had a litter of kittens last fall (long story, involving an ex-wife moving, sob story about travel sick cat, surprise! cat is also pregnant), and have just had them all spayed/neutered. I would like to find a couple of them good homes, I’m just not sure how to go about it.
They were all raised in the house with our six kids, two little dogs, and two big dogs and are quite the characters. As much as I hate to admit it, we are pretty darn attached to them at this point. But, the reality is that we cannot continue to have six cats in the house. So, if a good home does come along it would be nice to have a guide of appropriate questions to ask…
How’s that for a long, rambling post?
Is it Friday yet???
Email me at cathy@pretzelkitty.com and ask me for it so I don’t forget.
Hold up, let me get this straight… she works with kids in the juvie system? So kids who have behaved really badly and probably are not so keen on being obedient, are looked after by this “cold unfeeling bitch”?
I’d be really surprised if there haven’t ever been any complaints filed against this woman concerning the way she does her job, because in most cases, someone heartless enough to torture animals in such a way (especially when they have the money to at least feed them correctly; it’s bad enough when the person is delusional about what they can manage to take good care of; this is just deliberate cruelty) is also very capable of losing patience and being abusive to smart-mouthed, naughty teenagers, as well. Is there anyone here on Fugly who might be able to dig around a little and see what other problems have been conveniently swept under the rug?
I certainly think that what she did to those poor horses is worthy of some serious jail time, heavy fines, and losing the right to ever own anything more complicated to take care of than, oh, a fly, but I doubt that Illinois’s laws will allow that. However if she has been abusive while doing her job, and people come out with their stories and are willing to testify, then maybe she’ll get a little but of what she deserves.
It just tops the cake that she works for the taxpayer and makes more than enough money to have been able to do something. I wish there were a way to lock her into a muddy pen and starve her for awhile, just to see how she likes it.
Oh. My. God. I cant look at the pictures. My mare is a lovely dun too and i dont know if that is why this story is making me consider being a criminal, but it is. If i looked at the pictures, i dont know what could happen. And the puppies, well that person needs to go far far away. for a long long time. Right fucking now.
To think that it could be folks like her being prison guard to folks like him sort of has its own irony, no?
at least when she goes to jail (hopefully) she’ll get her ass kicked…prisoners HATE cops and they’re put up there with child molesters. it’s considered something very proud when you kill a cop.
Yes, and given that a lot of prisoners are people who were abused by other humans and have strong bonds with animals, often remembering them as the only ones who listened or seemed to care when they were children, I wouldn’t want to be Stacey in prison.
She won’t go to prison. She’s been charged with misdemeanors only, has no priors, a government job, and connections. She will do community service and probation, unless something dramatic intervenes.
Does anyone know anything about the rescue the horses went to? I looked at their website http://www.cilhorserescue.com/ , and although I am sure it is better than where they came from, I cannot say I am impressed. Horses still thin after a year? Look at Valley’s before and after pics. I aplogize ahead of time , if i am way off base, just worried about those horses.
I know nothing about them. I’m concerned about any rescue where horses are still thin after six months, much less a year.
Yeah, their website made me nervous too. They really need a more professional site with a lot more information and fresher pictures. What they have up is awful and doesn’t inspire confidence!
I disagree with you about the website and photos. These people appear to be doing what this blog advocates – working at other jobs while running a rescue. I don’t suppose they have the time or money for a more professional website.
The horse that is still thin after spending a year at the rescue is another matter. Also worrisome is that it is the only ‘after’ photo I can find on the site. They do not even have an after photo of their first rescue, Star. I am concerned that this is a situation where the people’s intentions exceed their capability.
The Green County Sheriff may not have any other option for the horses. It is becoming more and more difficult to find a rescue willing to take in horses.
Yeah, I don’t care if someone has a home made web site. Heck, Jo Deibel still does her own web site, and one of these days I gotta teach that girl how to constrain proportions, ROTFL.
But I do like to see before and afters showing what you can do. That’s one of the best ways for remote donors to feel like they are handing off cash to competent, experienced people. They may just be behind but now they have a FB so that’s the easiest place ever to upload “afters.” I know Katie at SCR’s FB is way more up to date than her web site for the same reason – FB is just easier if you don’t know HTML/web site design.
“why aren’t we euthing people this positively and absolutely worthless? I’m so sick of the arrogant idea that human life is somehow intrinsically worth more than animal life. These two pieces of shit aren’t worth a penny on their best day, and IMNSHO, in an ideal world, they’d get the death penalty and we’d all be well rid of them.”
APPLAUSE…was thinking exactly this as I came to it, well said.
I’d like just five minutes in a room with that disgusting cow and that sick fuck of a boy…..
HEHE, I’ll take two minutes and a baseball bat, and thats one minute a piece. Think that will do it.
I find it particularly terrifying she works with juveniles – AT RISK KIDS! Kids that will be released back into the community……reformed?? Nice juxtaposition with blog about the young man torturing animals and humans……..
Wow, that has to be one of the worst stories I have ever read on here. I don’t believe in Hell, but she certainly deserves to go there and starve for all eternity.
Of all of the bottom feeders you’ve posted on this blog, this “woman” has got to be one of the worst. Those images…I cannot believe that she just watched them starve to death AND die and did nothing. Those poor, poor horses! Not only that, but on a six figure salary? She has got to have some sort of major mental illness or is a complete sociopath to allow something like this to occur. Honestly, this scares the crap out of me. I swear, if ever I sell a horse again, and that’s a big IF, I will follow up on the horse regularly until it dies of old age or of course (humanely euthanized, God forbid, if injured or sick and suffering). So, so sad!
God, if only we could create a group like the one in the movie The Star Chamber, a secret society of laywers and judges fed up with fuckheads getting off on technicalities. They hire hitmen to kill them. Dunzo, off the planet for good!
If i ever win the lottery, yeah i would donate to rescues, but i think i would make it my mission to screw with these types of people, however i could. Sue them for all kinds of stupid shit.
I am horrified and dismayed by the pictures of apathetic cruelty inflicted by this apparently heartless woman on these horses in her “care”. I believe she should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible,and I hope they throw the book at her,and that she spends a goodly amount of time behind bars,and then in some kind of community service,preferably involving the most menial types of animal care possible.
However, I am almost equally dismayed by some of the comments here whenever a situation of this sort is brought to light. I fail to see how someone can say they are all about humane treatment of animals and at the same time offer hope that the perp suffers so graphically,and in ways that are so painfully spelled out. Why does such hateful thought toward admittedly lowlife and heinous humans have a place in a discussion of cruelty and malice toward animals? How does that make us different than the a#$holes that do these things to animals? Love and caring are universal to all species, and if we extend it to our animals,we can certainly condemn such hideous acts without offering to commit them ourselves,in retribution.
” I fail to see how someone can say they are all about humane treatment of animals and at the same time offer hope that the perp suffers so graphically,and in ways that are so painfully spelled out.”
It’s simple.
I have a huge problem with innocent humans or creatures being tortured or starved.
I have NO problem with evil, violent, selfish and cruel humans being tortured or starved.
Sorry. I just don’t. You may be horrified by all violence…I am not.
I firmly believe that when the consequences were scarier, human behavior was better. Whether you agree with the strict laws in Singapore or not, I’d sure as HELL rather walk down the street in Singapore at midnight than in South Central L.A.
Prison simply isn’t scary…especially once you’ve been there. People learn to work the system, to get perks and luxuries on the inside, and even enjoy the ability to advance in the social structure there and feel powerful. Hell, I know of someone who was doing shady real estate deals from jail and making plenty of money doing them!
It is simply NOT punishment. Maybe for you, nothing ever rises to the level where physical punishment or death is an appropriate consequence. I simply do not agree with you, and neither do many others here.
I really don’t have a huge problem with physical punishment; I believe there is a case to be made for the death penalty,for example,in some cases. Not the drawn out,taxpayer screwing, appealed -to-infinity-25 years later kind,either. But I often wonder how helpful or inspiring it really is to hope for the old eye for an eye type situation. How much better would you really feel after taking part in some kind of “stoning” scenario? Wouldn’t it feel like you just became more like the monster you have punished? I sure as hell would. The high road is the high road, any detours to the lower section just takes you off of it.
Just MHO, thanks for the discussion. I read your blog a lot,and admire your commitment,and thank you for the time and trouble you take for the horses.
I went to a private school where you could get physically punished. It didn’t happen frequently but it did happen. I don’t think it hurt anyone a bit. Now obviously there is a difference between that and being stoned to death, but do you think society as a whole, looking at the big picture, is at a LOWER place than it was in the 1800s when we hung bad guys? I do not.
Except…. a lot of “bad guys” happened to be black/immigrant/mentally disabled/unfortunate/eccentric/poor folks who were framed for many things, or had charges trumped up against them. NEVER EVER EVER forget that.
Like when my own grandmother went to the 1930 version of “Juvie” for stealing food for her family because the garden had run out and her alcoholic abusive father was too busy drinking and preaching to notice. Fortunately for her a sympathetic matron took notice and got her domestic work in a kind household. She was extremely lucky. In another time and place, she would’ve had her hand cut off, been stoned to death or simply killed out of hand, because she was just another snotnosed poor kid.
Due Process came about in this democracy for a REASON. In all your revenge fantasies, keep that as your reality check.
“How much better would you really feel after taking part in some kind of “stoning” scenario?”
Ever heard of Jessica Lunsford? Nine years old and murdered in one of the most horrific ways imaginable. I would have cheerfully strangled her murderer with my own bare hands without the slightest bit of guilt. Everyone has a “Berserk Button” mine just happens to be set off by that sort of crime. There are just some cases where the offender should be stripped of the benefits of polite society.
And in answer to the question, I could shoot people like Nally all day and never feel any remorse. I just see it as justice. I am sure the sheriffs in the olden days that hung murderers and rapists slept very well at night as well.
My husband spent a year in Afghanistan. No one locked up their stuff. They left their things out. Because the penalty for stealing is you lose your right hand. The hand you have remaining, your left hand, is the hand you use when you go to the bathroom, so for the rest of your life you will be considered dirty and ostracized.
Yes, if the penalties for committing a crime actually MEANT something, we’d have less.
I forget where I saw it, but when the pictures of the Austrian prison (the one with the glass walls and tennis courts, etc, the e-mail said it was in Chicago) someone said “no one WANTS to go to jail”. Gee, don’t have to work. Three meals a day. Don’t pay taxes. I can get a degree (or multiple degrees) for free. Yeah…sounds pretty shitty to me. Morons.
That Sheriff out in Arizona with the tent city and the inmates have to work to pay for their own food has it right. THAT is punishment.
I LOVE THAT SHERIFF. I know Arizonans will post about the ways in which he’s not perfect but I don’t care. BEST SHERIFF EVER just for the tent city. Why any of those asshats should have A/C when so many decent, hardworking people cannot afford it is beyond me.
For the first three months that my husband was deployed he had to travel by convoy for about an hour to get to the main post every two or three days so he could BATHE. They didn’t have showers on whatever remote outpost he was on. So he literally faced being shot so he could go take a shower. Seems unfair that people who have sold their lives to the government and face death daily should be living in worse conditions than someone who got his kicks from raping and murdering people.
AMEN. That’s a very good point.
I really have the utmost respect for our military. I do not think most Americans truly know the CRAPPY conditions they tolerate to protect us while we sit at home in comfort.
Except in Afghanistan, you can also get your nose cut off (if you’re lucky) or get killed (maybe you’re actually luckier) if you run away from an abusive spouse.
You don’t have to have violence to have a polite society. Look at Japan. Where’s the looting?
WHERE?????????????????????????
In one of the most densely populated places on earth, this is a country where you can park your really nice motorcycle on the street with the keys in it, and it will still be there a week later. Where people turn in your umbrella to the Tokyo Lost & Found if you leave it on the subway.
Fear of violence ≠ polite society. I would say that a deeply ingrained “YOU DON’T STEAL” is probably what’s at work in Afghanistan as well as in Japan. Afghan society simply decided that it was egregious enough that, on the rare occasions it DOES happen, it warrants violent punishment, because EVERY infraction warrants violent punishment.
I do like the idea of a tent city, behavioral & ethical boot camp and primitive conditions for inmates, but in this country, the corrections industry has turned into an…. industry. There’s no emphasis on “correction,” simply “keep ‘em off the streets.” For-profit prisons have made it even worse, no matter how many jobs they’ve created in small towns.
The whole American PENITENTiary system was founded on an ideal that a monastic existence would help foster in inmates self-reflection and behavioral change. Unfortunately, there weren’t any realistic self-improvement programs beyond that thought, and of course the violence still happens to this day.
And the whole monastic existence has gone out the window. Weight rooms? Television? Come on.
So is the difference in Japan that when they teach morality in schools, some douchebag doesn’t start screaming about how they’re forcing religion on someone? That always kills me. Sorry, but DO NOT STEAL is not a religious concept. It is basic common sense if you want a decent society to live in.
Or is it the parents that are doing a consistently better job? I mean, we have a lot of great parents here in the U.S. But we also have a lot of parents that should have been spayed.
Because the weird religious and libertarian wing of the GOP – starting with Reagan, probably – began the gradual eroding of the classic American sense of Civic Duty & Responsibility that enjoyed its full flower during WWII.
Anytime I hear a redneck shout “I GOT MAH RIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!” I turn around and run, because I know that nothing good is going to come of the situation.
Yes, many people need to stop pooping out kids that they promptly neglect. “Pooping” is not a typo. You should only have kids if you are going to love, cherish, pay attention to, teach, discipline, and RAISE them. Duh.
Whenever I read about the backpack programs to send food home with children for the week-end because they will have little or nothing to eat otherwise, I am aghast and perplexed. If people can/will not even feed their children, why do they have them?!? Mind you, I am not opposed to the programs; since the children exist, they need to eat. How did our society come to the point where is seems widely acceptable to produce children for whom you cannot or will not provide the basic necessities?
My mother has a colleague, a woman from the U.S. who expatriated to Singapore. She’s lived all around the world (she has amazing tattoos of currency of every country she’s lived in), and chose to settle down in Singapore.
SHE LOVES IT THERE. I asked her about it, and she dispelled many myths for me:
1) No, you won’t get beaten for the tiniest infraction. Yes, you need to follow the rules, but the rules aren’t any harsher than ordinary societal expectations, like no littering, no graffiti, no beating up or raping people….
2) No, there’s no censorship. On satellite, you get CNN, FOX, MSNBC, BBC, Al-Jazeerah, whatever you want. Your internet isn’t monitored or restricted. At the corner newsstand you can get the NY Times, Wall St. Journal, London Times, etc. etc. etc.
3) Yes, a single woman can walk down the street in the worst part of town at 3 a.m. and be perfectly safe.
Prison is a horrifying prospect to those of us who grew up in “normal” upper-middle-class lifestyles, but not really all that bad for someone who’s grown up in the abject poverty and casual violence of gangland.
Remember the big caning whoop-de-doo about Singapore? I just remember thinking, hell, if we’d do that here, our cities wouldn’t be so disgusting and filthy. There is graffiti EVERYWHERE in Los Angeles and the property owners endlessly pay to clean it up. How is that fair? Do the people doing it REALLY not deserve a damn spanking? You don’t want to be caned? Don’t destroy other people’s property. It’s not rocket science.
My three year olds have that one figured out (not spanking, but consequences for their actions). Hell my DOGS have figured out the reward system. Good things= treats and affection Bad things= no treats
Just saying if a three year old child can learn I don’t see why an adult can’t put one plus one together…
I think that the safety of places like Singapore and Japan, and the Scandinavian countries as well, has more to do with the level of homogeneity in their societies than with their punishment policies. Scandinavia does NOT have rigorous, harsh or cruel punishment, yet they have much lower crime than we do. Ditto Japan. These societies consist of the same races and the same social groups who have lived together for centuries. The countries that have mixes of people, like ours, struggle with creating a common ethic or standard.
I do not support cruelty or physical punishment of even the worse offenders, but I think life sentences should be instituted for the types of offenders who clearly cannot be rehabilitated, like child and animal abusers, and certain violent criminals. It is crazy to keep letting them out when we all know they will do it again. Having said that, I might have evil fantasies now and then when I read topics like this one, but I truly, in real life, do not want to torture even these horrible excuses for human beings.
I’m afraid I don’t agree. Yes, these folks are heinous scum, but I don’t get much pleasure out of thinking of sadistic ways to persecute them. It’s a huge waste of time. I’d rather spend the time rehabilitating the animals, or determining proper punishment without all the histrionics. Agreed, prison systems are a mess, and how justice is administered is a bigger mess.
I love the Fugly blog, it’s a great tool in the crusade against cruelty and stupidity. I just don’t think writing up ‘creative punishments’ in blog comments is in any way constructive. That being said, if I could have caught the person in the act, I would have no problem in administering some sort of personal justice…
Not everything has to be constructive. We’re not in court here. It’s the Internet and a lot of the reason this blog exists is to give people a place to vent. Venting doesn’t have to be anything but venting. It isn’t necessary for it to have some sort of constructive value, IMNSHO.
Nah, I get it. Venting is fine, this is an appropriate place for it, and it’s better than the alternatives. It’s just… I dunno, I feel more functional if I don’t go ‘there’ (ie, imagining doing nasty things to nasty people and enjoying it. I’d have a lot of dead ex-bosses otherwise…)
Anyway, keep it up Cathy! You’re one tough egg…
I am completely against the death penalty because it IS so hard to prove guilt.
However, I’m not at all against ‘punishment that fits the crime’. Graffiti, for example, goes down dramatically when the punishment for being caught tagging is to be made to *clean it up*.
I’d personally like to see Ms Kempf lose her job and be forced to burn off that fat on some honest physical labor.
Or how about this…a lifetime ban from owning animals, and forced to live in a basic hostel with boring food and hard beds…whilst her salary goes to horse rescues? Maybe we could set the sentence to a ridiculously high dollar value rather than time…
THAT would be ideal.
I remember reading somewhere that in some ancient societies, the penalty for killing someone was becoming their family’s personal slave, and they could treat you however they wanted. The reasoning was that the family’s economic loss of a contributing family member warranted that replacement labor.
Not sure how true it is, but it sounds pretty fitting.
I think that creative sentencing would be a fascinating field of study.
Coastiecoast, thank you, I agree. I also believe that most of the comments you refer to are made in anger and people do not genuinely want to torture/kill the people who are featured on this blog. But I agree, it seems hard to claim the moral high ground when you want to turn around and dish out the same behaviour that you’ve condemned. Stronger laws, different punishments for animal cruelty, absolutely, but no need to call for violence.
I’ve sold my share of horses over the years, ones I have bred, trained, and sold into new homes. I’ve always been pretty careful who I sell them to and I have refused to sell to anyone I thought was not a good match, or I had a bad feeling about, even though their farm looked okay. However, we all have our favorites, the ones we say we will never sell. One day a very rich man approached me wanting to buy my favorite. I said no. He kept asking and I begain to consider it. It was alot of money he was talking and one bad colic attack and my horse could be gone, so maybe I should take the money while he was waving it. In the end, I figured my horse was worth more money than anyone could tempt me with. (Okay, I think with my heart and not my bank account.) Not long after that, this rich man got into a fight with his boarding barn, dumped all his horses in a huge mess which cause the sherrif to become involved and is no longer into horses. The thought that I was almost tempted to sell by beloved little horse in to that mess is unthinkable. However, if I would have openned up this site and seen one of those starved and dead horses was one of mine, I would have come unglued. She’s lucky it wasn’t me who tried to bring food to her dying horses and was arrested for it. Simply unbelieveable. I have no problem seeing this woman, who makes more money than me, who has health care when I don’t, who has a retirement plan, when I don’t, get what she deserves. I have a barn full of my own horses and they are very well cared for. If I can do it, she certainly could have. The difference is, I love my horses and I care about them. They are family, not plants that can survive because of the dirt under their feet and the sun on their heads!
THIS.
WOMAN.
WORKS.
WITH.
TROUBLED.
YOUTH.
No wonder they grow up to be troubled and incorrigible adults. I wonder how much terror and torture she indulges in on the job?
What she did to the horses, she has done to humans as well. She works for juvie, correct? Wonder what she did there……….who would listen to complaints made against her by young ‘undesireables’? Hell, no one would listen to complaints against regarding the horses.
Hey Fugs,
Has anybody notified you regarding the “rescue” in Alabama with the starving horses?
http://www.clearmeadowstables.com/wtvy_news_coverage
http://www.wtvy.com/home/headlines/Police_Say_No_Foul_in_Horse_Abuse_Criticism_118859459.html
http://forums.delphiforums.com/alexbrown/messages?msg=54973.1
http://fhotd64476.yuku.com/topic/60453 <–has the start of the story there
Yeah, I just haven’t gotten to reading it yet.
http://crimecrawlers.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/161.jpg?w=519&h=386
I have this gut feeling this used to be my horse. He looks almost identical (marking wise) to the Paint gelding I used to own. But that’s means he ended up in Illinois all the way from Ontario, and it’s not like we gave him away for a bag of peanuts either. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m going to look for old photos tonight to be 100% sure. I hope to God it’s not him.
Go get him. They will be looking for homes for all of the animals when this is all over. He is still standing. Look at Grace; where there’s life there’s hope.
This is off topic but equally disturbing. My parents live outside Yakima, Washington, and rent there. The other day there landlord who is there next door neighbor, and they both have some land. Came walking up to my parent’s yard, past there front door, and right up to the dog pen. (The dogs are not allowed in the house, so they have a pen that connects to a shed. Inside the shed they have room to walk around, and a heat lamb and its bedded with straw. The dogs can go in and of whenever they want) When he gets to the dog pen he pulls out his shotgun and kills my parents 10 year old German Shepard, Shadow. Shadow had just gotten out a couple minutes before this had happened, and my grandfather had just put her back in her pen, and was going to get a rope to tie her up. (My parents very rarely tie up the dogs since the pen is more like a small yard and the dogs can run in it.) Well when my grandfather was looking for the rope in the house, him and my mom hear the gun. So they go outside to see what happened, and confront there landlord, were he admits to killing there dog. He claims the dog had tried to attack him. Well he is an 80 year old man with a pacemaker, and from his front door to the dog pen is at least a 100 feet. So we are pretty sure he killed the dog just because he did not like her, and when she got out she had probably walked to close to his property. Because they live out in the country and any animal he sees walking on his property he just kills it. And this man walks around with a clipboard with bible versus to connect to god. He will now admit that he maybe overreacted a little bit. He still has not said sorry, still claims the penned dogs was trying to attack him, and did not even offer to help take of care the body. So since this happened I have been calling my mom to call the police. When she would not I called animal control, and caught lady as she was leaving for home. She told me to call the cops, and I told my mom this. (I do not live with them or I would have done this right away.) She finally calls the cops six hours after this happened. And they would not do anything because it was she said he said situation. My parents do not own a shotgun and he admitted to killing the dog. They took the body to a vet, and my mom called animal control. What this guy did was off the wall bonkers and just plain wrong and immoral. I am trying to figure out what my parents are able to do legally about this. I live in Idaho and they just moved to Washington, we all moved from Arizona. So we are not familiar with any animals laws and such. My mom is very emotional and taking forever and figuring out stuff because of this. Side note, they are planning to move as soon as they find another place.
(Sorry if I missed words or letters I am a little bit angry and needed to rant, and I always read the missing words like they are there so I never notice them. )
I have started and deleted 5 responses to this. Nothing I can write will be be able to express my thoughts of horror and sorrow.
I did notice on the pics that came up, they were all “purdy colored” horses.
Something we do here in Sonoma County is get the “important” people involved. By Important I refer to our District Attorney, and County Supervisor to name a few. Sadly we have had our fair share (any is too much) of horse neglect cases, but having the support of the people that can put the hurt on them (ie: prosecute them as felons) has made an impact. Animal abusers are not taken lightly. The last trial for a scumbag who starved one horse to death was standing room only. Local equine vets volunteered to assist the DA and provided forensic testimony. Salvador Barrera was convicted and received the maximum punishment as well as forbidden from ever owning horses again. Ever. Oh and he was a cadet at the law enforcement academy. He was expelled. Does this bring back “Blackie” the poor horse who starved to death and thrashed in his stall? No. But it did put the lowlife behind bars. I am all about action. Do I wish that piece of shit waste of oxygen Stacey suffers a slow painful death? YES. Will she get enough punishment? Not enough in my books. Demand action everyone. Write letters. Call and email the media. Do whatever it takes.
http://chrissmith.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10189/we-dont-starve-horses-do-we/
People like this are a waste of oxygen and resources. I just.. can’t even fathom what goes on in their hateful, cruel heads. I would never want to hurt another living thing, but for people like these I make an exception. And even then, I don’t really wish them to be hurt.. I just wish they were gone. Not locked up. Dragged out back and just done away with, for the good of everyone.
What I cannot wrap my head around is what kind of people raise kids like this? Both of them. I know what it;’s like to grow up with a fear of parental injustices but nothing to create the monsters coming into this world. Really, what kind of people make people like this. It has to start somewhere. So, after they get done with these pieces of shit, they better go and check on the rest of the family members. Where there’s one there’s usually more…
You really have to wonder…but then again, there are many stories of people who came from NIGHTMARE families and somehow just had their heads on straight and said, I’m not going to be anything like that…and they weren’t. It is a very interesting topic. I think I had a blog about that once, about whether you were raised by good animal owners or bad.
Incidents like this have made me decide that if I cannot keep my dogs, and no trusted friends could take them in, I’d sooner put them down then send them to a strange home. The big one adores “her dog” and the little one is small, cute, and the most neurotic animal I’ve ever met. I’ve run into a lot of dogs, and the little one is the only one I’m absolutely SURE would bite a child out of fear, and she’s terrified of children.
I cannot imagine how that poor woman must feel after seeing her former horse dead on TV. Being arrested for trying to feed the others is just adding insult to injury. At the very least Kempf should lose her job over this.
Now, this sought of thing REALLY pisses me off! I cannot comprehend why the couple who tried to do the right thing are being punished while this evil CUNT (excuse my language, but I lacked a better word) is getting off so lightly. I find it particuarly irritating that she works in the Department of Corrections – they should be VERY hard on her due to this, she’s making the whole organisation look bad AND if she is not convicted it just looks like she is being protected by her own and that will NOT sit well with the public. I have said it before and I will say it again – people who work for the government NEED to be good examples and when they screw up, they need to feel the full extent of the law.
What really annoys me is that the authorities didn’t bother to do anything when they went and saw her. Hello, if her step father or whatever, was a sherrif – isn’t that a sign that she KNEW what she was doing was wrong? I really, really, think that most of the time, people who screw up are ignorant and just don’t know better. However, this douche bag KNEW. She was just fucking evil! There’s no dancing around that – there’s no pleading ignorance!
I also find it disturbing that people value human life more than animal life – I don’t understand it. We all haev souls, the ONLY difference between them and us is that we have more power. However, that’s not really a good thing – name me one other species who has serial killers and rapists! No other species gets a kick of of torture and yet WE are seen as the most ‘humane’ species – bullshit.
How, pray tell us, can she REALLY not afford to feed those horses on a $117,000 annual salary? That’s ridiculous! You did a thing about the cost of owning a horse not too long ago – if memory serves me it cost you around $20,000 a year – which is a lot, yes, but coming out of such a HUGE wage, is not really so much in the grand scheme of things. I see that she is not lacking any weight – I wonder while she was stuffing her face with food if she ever thought about feeding the poor horses that were starving to death in her yard.
http://www.operationhorserescue.blogspot.com
OT, but this needs to be shared. What a sick sick person…
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/03/michael_j_capretta_neighbor_wh.php
Anyone else hear info about this guy?
And I am mad enough with MY neighbors right now. (I need to corner them at a time when they are NOT screaming at each other, reducing each other to tears and telling each other to shut the fuck up at 2AM IN THE MORNING ON A WEEKNIGHT). Now I feel lucky.
(No, I’m not interrupting them to be polite, I just don’t want to be in the middle of a domestic).
OT but some good news: Ernie Paragallo lost his appeal yesterday
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/01/sports/01paragallo.html?src=recg
Yay! Some good news in the midst of this horror.
This is OT but speaking of people going to hell there is a petition to make beastiality a felony. The e-mail petitions are junk but sometimes these actually go somewhere. I know the ones on Change.org can be effective.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/868/425/254/
Wow, this blog’s comments just covered:
Abortion
The value of life
Animal rights
Human overpopulation
Vigilante justice
Creative sentencing
The death penalty
…and a ton more.
And it was done in a thoughtful, logical, non-nasty way. I don’t agree with you, Fugly, about an animal’s life being of the same value as a human’s, but I do LOVE that your blog allows us to talk about it and all of these other issues. If I have to disagree with people, I’d much rather it be the people HERE than anywhere else, because everyone here is at least in the same ballpark, if not on the same base.
“I also think there isn’t a single thing wrong with SOME of us being more upset by evil against humans and SOME of us being more upset by evil against animals – because that means that EVERYBODY has someone committed to fighting the evils against them. Isn’t that a good thing? It’s like how I choose to donate to horse charities but you may choose to donate to cancer and someone else may choose to donate to a homeless shelter. Hello, it’s all good.”
SUPER LIKE.
I am also impressed with the ability most people have here to stay calm and rationally discuss even the most sensitive issues. LOVE it.
Speaking from a purely personal viewpoint, the fact that I can throw a wobbly and cast aspersions on the marital status of someone’s parents if I wanted to makes me far more able to control myself- after all, no-one else is going to!
I get very, very tired of the “nanny” aspect of a lot of other forums- where you have to be hyper polite all the time and not tread on anyone’s toesies in case you offend them- it is all just so much lip service anyway!
So, allowing me to actually be an adult brings out the best in me, and I think this is true of most people, in most situations.
I cannot fathom letting an animal starve, let alone 20 or 30 of them. I just can’t wrap my brain around it. I felt terribly guilty when my picky mare decided that the new load of hay I got wasn’t to her liking (nothing wrong with it, perfectly good, just didn’t like it), and rather than eat it that night spread it all around her stall. That only happened ONE NIGHT; I gave her the last of the bales of hay she did like from the loft, sold the hay she didn’t like, and bought her stuff she would eat.
One day the barn kitties ran out of kibble–they had breakfast, but we didn’t have any for dinner. I was the first one to the barn and they would not stop following me around and mewing. Even though my barn manager had texted to say she was bringing food when she came, I still went out and got food for them because I couldn’t stand listening to them! I know I’m particularly soft, but I cannot imagine watching an animal be hungry and have the power to do something about it. It is so sick and twisted and absolutely disgusting and anyone who can stomach doing that to an animal is evil.
Feel free to copy/use/change the following, just DO send something in!
Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice
707 N. 15th St.
Springfield, IL 62702
217-557-1030
Attn: Director Arthur D. Bishop
Dear Mr. Bishop,
I am writing in regards to the actions of one of your employees, Stacey Kempf. In early March, Ms. Kempf was charged with thirty misdemeanor charges relating to her torture and starvation of dozens of horses on her property, only relinquishing the dying animals in her care on March 17th.
I am deeply shocked to hear that Ms. Kempf is currently working for the Illinois State Department of Juvenile Justice. While perhaps her criminal activities may not prevent her continued employment by the state, one would hope that her cruelty and irresponsibility and would prevent her from working with children.
The most disturbing part of Ms. Kempf’s behavior is that her cruelty seems to have been intentional. Ms. Kempf obtained many of the horses under her care by telling horse owners that, should they give their horses to her, those horses would get a wonderful “retirement home.” When one of these owners, Janet Zimmerman, found out that her former horse was starving to death in Ms. Kempf’s “retirement home,” Ms. Zimmerman went to the property and attempted to feed it. Ms Kempf had Ms. Zimmerman arrested for trespassing and denied the horse the free food Ms. Zimmerman had brought. Ms. Kempf could also afford to feed these horses herself, since records show your office paid her over $117,000 last year. Ms. Kempf had no excuse for allowing animals to die the slow, torturous death of starvation.
I urge you to stop employing Stacey Kempf, who is plainly a dangerous, irresponsible and cruel individual unfit to work for any organization who seeks Justice, and absolutely unfit to work with young people.
Yours Sincerely,
I think this sick bitch gets off on what’s she’s doing to those animals. She probably thinks she’s punishing them for being bad/evil. Maybe she got a taste for it at her job, or maybe she can’t get away with doing stuff like this there, and takes it out on the horses a la transference.
Aren’t there some kind of Whistleblower awards? Scott and LaNise Kirk should be nominated for bringing this case to light and pursuing it. They were brave in their actions.
I agree completely! I have the utmost respect for them for DOING SOMETHING. Too many people would be horrified but not be the ones to act.
Wow, this is such a colorful comment thread! I love the comment threads on this blog almost as much as the blog itself.
Not much left to add . . . except what chapped my ass is that she, not only neglected (killed) her horses, but did so knowingly. Its not like she left them in someone else’s care and that someone screwed up . . . leaving her guilty of not checking on them long term, which IMHO would be misdemeanor charges . . . but tried to cover it up . . . I mean the OTHER Stacy KNEW to contact her and warn her that authorities were headed out. What the hell?! She tried damn hard to cover it up too . . . having another neighbor haul hay out and burry the dead. Uh, she KNEW she had dead horses on her property! Why, What, HUH?! To me that is not just neglect (which is BAD in and of itself) but cruelty and abuse of the worst kind! She definitely needs to be charged with something that creates more of punishment than community service . . . though this public embarrassment might be a bit of start . . . jail time, fines to cover the horses that managed to survive but now have to be rehabbed, demotion/firing from such a job that she holds (seems inappropriate in the least to be a corrections officer, juvenile or otherwise when you obviously are mentally ill) . . . and absolutely no pet/animal ownership allowed!
That’s my two cents, which I’m sure is a repeat or rehash of the other 200+ comments. =0)
PS Fugs . . . I agree with your views on abortion . . . coming from a pastor’s home and from a christian household and being surrounded by religion, that is the best way to handle abortion, birth control, baby! I believe in God, I believe human life does supersede that of an animals, but that just puts more of a responsibility on us for caring for them and our environment than that of, say, a Lion . . . not rights to abuse that privilege but to take up our share of responsibility. Wish the human race was better at said responsibility. =0(
This waste of oxygen just wasted more of it by pleading not guilty. She also asked for a jury trial which will waste tons of money that the state of IL doesn’t have. There needs to be a provision for charging the entire cost of a trial to the criminal when they ask for a trial when it is completely obvious that they are guilty. Or maybe something analogous to a grand jury that determines whether there is sufficient doubt of guilt for a person to get a trial.
http://weai.com/news-home/6167-woman-linked-to-horse-deaths-pleads-not-guilty-in-greene-county-court
There was a peaceful protest at the Green Country court house urging stricter penalties for animal abuse an hour before Kempf’s appearance there. Spokeswoman for the protesters was LaNise Kirk who, along with her husband, first reported Kempf. Yeah, LaNise!
http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/-52383–.html
The above article says that Kempf was charged with misdemeanors rather than felonies because intent could not be proved. I am wondering what they thought she intended to happen when she did not feed her horses. Any doubt as to her intent should have been dispelled when she had someone arrested for bringing food to the horses.
You know what, though? I WANT a jury trial in this case. Judges are far more likely to be jaded and less emotionally affected. I want those photographs seen by NORMAL PEOPLE who do not see horrors in their daily lives. They’ll throw the book at that bitch.
Since they are going to make it impossible to catch these fat bastards by their new ‘anti-video’ laws, I vote we do like the Citizens of the City of Ulster and follow that fine old tradition of Tar and Feathering.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-478310/Tarred-feathered-tied-lamppost-Justice-drug-dealer-streets-Ulster.html
And here is why they did it: same reason we are in flames every other day at the stories of police and authority neglect killing horses and other animals.
“Frankie Gallagher, of the Ulster Political Research Group, said: “The UDA told the local community to go to the police about this. The community responded in the way it did because it had no confidence in the police.”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-478310/Tarred-feathered-tied-lamppost-Justice-drug-dealer-streets-Ulster.html#ixzz1JAzJHDvH
I am seriously not kidding at all.