First,a huge thank you and round of applause to MFran for its
incredible work, all the photos, affidavits . everything. Same to
everyone else working hard behind the scenes!

Second, it would be no surprise if pursuing criminal action against the
McKay farm goes nowhere. It's a horribly sad fact that situations far
worse than even McKay's routinely go unpunished, all over the country.
From local constables on up to APHIS/USDA, cruelty enforcement is often
either laughably weak or flat out non-existent.

However, civil action is a viable and often effective alternative to
pursuing criminal charges, which local authorities may be unwilling or
simply unable (due to lack of staff or financial resources, or both)
to carry out. Anyone can file civil charges and in fact,
non-jurisdictional intervention is usually the first step. It's
typically a less expensive and a quicker process than criminal
prosecution, too.

In addition to civil court filings, there are other possible options:
contact the departments of sanitation (solid waste handling and
disposal, trash ordinances), nuisance ordinances (smell? noise?), the
health department (rabies or other mandatory inoculations, hygiene
protocols, disease transmission prevention standards), fire code
violations, zoning laws, even child and adult protective services -
all these have been successfully used to intervene in prior cruelty
cases where the local cops, even the SPCA and ACOs did not act.

According to the HSUS, "Seizure and prosecution are not always the
answer. But when they are the only option left, shelters can receive
help in handling the costs of large seizures through good local laws.
"Bonding" laws compel the perpetrator to help with costs of care; other
civil citations allow an animal owner to be declared "unfit" to care
properly for his animals. Civil "unfit" laws have a lower burden of
proof than criminal cruelty proceedings, and require, once the person
has been declared unfit, that seized animals quickly become the legal
property of the seizing agency; the animals can then be adopted or
euthanized instead of languishing in a kennel as the criminal case
proceeds through court."

The HSUS has a strike team that assists with mass cruelty or hoarding
cases. I don't know if this team can act when it involves a licensed
APHIS breeding facility. I do know that the team a) has to be invited
by a jurisdictional authority and b) may be legally designated as
"baileys" in the case. If so, they can be given immediate obtain
custody of the animals to provide proper sheltering and medical care
while the case wends its way through the court.

[Posted in FML 5543]