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Eastern Shore Arabian Breeder Pleads No Contest to 10 Counts of Neglect It should likewise be noted that, in order to
On Monday, February 27, 2012, the Queen
Anne’s County Department of Animal Servic- es (QA Animal Control) entered into an agree- ment with Marsha Parkinson that authorizes the return of 63 horses, but required that she relinquish ownership of 70 horses. During the last week of April 2011, QA Animal Control, with the assistance of the Hu- mane Society of the United States and the lo- gistical coordination of Days End Farm Horse Rescue, seized or euthanized 140 Polish Ara- bian Horses located on Parkinson’s Canterbury Farm in Centreville, Maryland; the horses were considered to be in various stages of neglect. As Parkinson had approved the euthanasia of some of the horses, the State only charged her with neglect for the remaining 133 cases. In return for pleading no contest to 10 counts of neglect, and for signing an agreement that al- lows QA Animal Control to continue to moni- tor the horses for one year, 63 of the 133 horses have been or will be returned to Parkinson. As part of the agreement, Parkinson relinquished ownership of the remaining horses. T e agreement includes the following stipula- tions: • T e 63 horses will be returned in phases over the course of fi ve months; • QA Animal Control will inspect the farm before the fi rst shipment of horses arrives, and will monitor the farm with a monthly scheduled inspection and a monthly surprise inspection; • A veterinarian will inspect all horses once a month for one year; • Parkinson is prohibited from breeding horses for one year; • Parkinson is prohibited from having more than 63 horses on the Centreville farm; • Parkinson must pay $20,000 to Days End Horse Farm to help defray costs of care. Parkinson will likewise spend the 12 months on a probationary status. If she violates her probationary status or violates the terms of the agreement, Judge John Nunn warned her that he can immediately invoke the stiff est penalties possible: a $1,000 fi ne per count (or $10,000) and 90 days in jail per count (for a total of 900 days of incarceration). Immediately following the acceptance of the agreement by the court, Parkinson’s attor-
ney, Jonathan P. Kagan, released the following statement: “On April 29, 2011, Queen Anne’s County Ani- mal Control (“Animal Control”) with the assis- tance of the Humane Society of the United States (“HSUS”), conducted a warrantless seizure of 133 Polish Arabian horses… T e State then charged Ms. Parkinson with 133 counts of misdemeanor animal neglect. Ms. Parkinson has always denied the charges of any type of neglect and that none of her horses were ever suff ering nor in any danger. Ms. Parkinson maintains that the seizure of all the horses by Animal Control and HSUS, a private non-profi t organization, is illegal. Don Henneke, PhD., Director of Equine Sci-
ence at Tarleton State University in Texas, was prepared to testify as an expert for the defense. Dr. Henneke developed the Body Conditioning Scare for horses that is used internationally. It is frequently referred to as the “Henneke Scale.” Dr. Henneke reviewed the evidence and in his profes- sional opinion, HSUS and its rescue partners (the groups responsible for the seizure) “showed a com- plete lack of understanding” in the application of the equine body condition scale as applied to Ms. Parkison’s horse and “exhibited extreme bias.” He concluded that “the charges of neglect against Ms. Parkinson were not warranted. T e horses should not have been removed from her control and cus- tody.”
Under the agreement, T e State dismissed 123
counts, and Ms. Parkinson pled “no contest” to 10 counts of “failing to provide adequate shelter.” T e court struck all ten counts and entered a probation before judgment, which is not a conviction on any of the counts. Ms. Parkinson will eventually apply to the court to expunge the record of the 10 misde- meanor counts not dismissed…”
It should be noted that this statement was
prepared prior to the actual courtroom hearing. During the hearing, the judge refused to hear details regarding the neglect charges, noting that since Parkinson was pleading no contest to “misdemeanor neglect,” there was no reason to elaborate on that in the court, therefore, Parkin- son could not have pled “no contest” to “failure to provide adequate shelter,” only to the general charge of “neglect.” It should also be noted that, with this plea of “no contest” and this agree- ment, she gets only 63 horses returned, not all the horses.
have her record expunged, according to State’s Attorney Lance Richardson, the Parkinson will have to meet all the terms of the agreement and then wait for three years after her probation ends before fi ling a request to have her record expunged; in other words, it will be a minimum of 4 years before the 67 year old horse breeder will be able to fi le the request. T at being said, it remains unclear whether or not the county really did have the author- ity to seize all the horses. It is possible that it is a matter of interpretation of Maryland code. (Our readers should try to remember that legal authority and what is permissible by law are not the same thing as what may or may not be morally or ethically right or wrong.) Parkinson contends that the county did not have the legal authority for the seizure: “T ey (Animal Control and HSUS) had no ba-
sis to take my horses and I should have never been charged. HSUS saw an opportunity to grab head- lines and raise signifi cant money in order to fur- ther their own agenda at my expense… Although I would have liked to have had my day in court to prove my innocence of the false allegations and rumors of cruelty and abuse, I am happy to get my horses back and move on with my life on the farm.” After court, representatives from HSUS
refused to answer any questions, stating that contrary to Parkinson’s assertions - the role of the HSUS has been to merely assist QA Ani- mal Control, at the request and invitation of QA Animal Control, with handling the ani- mals. Later, HSUS Public Information Offi cer Jordan Crump supplied the following offi cial statement: T e Humane Society of the United States, Days
End Farm Horse Rescue, and several other Mary- land horse rescue groups assisted in the removal of 133 horses seized by Queen Anne’s County Animal Services from Marsha Parkinson in April of last year and over the last ten months we have seen them thrive under our care. Although we are deep- ly disappointed in the outcome of the criminal case against Parkinson, we are also enormously grate- ful to the Queen Anne’s County Animal Services Director, Dave MacGlashan and State’s Attorney Lance Richardson for their tireless and expert work in this important case.
IF YOU HAVE NEWS, VIEWS OR UPDATES TO CONTRIBUTE, PLEASE SEND THEM TO Editor at The Equiery, P.O. Box 610, Lisbon, MD 21765 • FAX: 410-489-7828 • email
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Be sure to include your full name, phone number and address. All submissions become the property of The Equiery. 8 | THE EQUIERY | APRIL 2012 800-244-9580 |
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