by Denise LeBeau, Best Friends Animal Society
“Every year there is one case that makes it apparent why animal cruelty laws in Utah should be in step with the rest of the country,” Gregory Castle, a founder of Best Friends Animal Society and Executive Director of No More Homeless Pets Utah, and lobbyist for stronger anti-cruelty laws for the last three years in the state.
This year it is the story of Henry, a small Chihuahua/Dachshund mix that is resonating with the public. Henry is the survivor of multiple forms of torture at the hands of Rhonda Kamper’s ex-husband. He endured being assaulted by a leaf blower that left him blinded in one eye, and being cooked in an oven that left him badly burned.
See network story and photo of Henry.http://network.bestfriends.org/utah/news/9174.htmlRhonda’s husband at the time, Mark Vincent, had previously shown signs of anger management issues, but nothing could have tipped Rhonda off to the level of violence he was capable of!
“When I got Henry a year ago, it was apparent that the little, happy and energetic dog would take attention away my husband,” Rhonda relates, “but I thought it would be a good bonding experience for all of us, I have to walk the dog, so I’d always ask Mark to come along. But he never did, and he grew more resentful of the time I spent with Henry.”
Rhonda had known Mark for eight years before the attacks on Henry, and there was no way she could believed he was capable of such violence. They had had a long distance relationship for some time before getting married, and those encounters were always pleasant. Then in 2003, Mark was diagnosed with anger issues, he started taking medication and seemed to be heading towards more stability in his emotions. But even as his temper stabilized, his possessiveness of his wife never fully subsided. And then he stopped taking his medication regularly.
He began by being more manipulative of her time, and more controlling of her life. He was telling her what she could and couldn’t wear, who she could see, and was even trying to interfere with her job – in effect he was trying to isolate her. One day he made a verbal threat that he would do something to Henry, and that’s when Rhonda told him if he killed Henry she would divorce him for good. He was able to follow through on part of his threat before Rhonda would leave him.
“I came home and saw something was horribly wrong. Mark told me he had put Henry in the oven and described every terrible detail. He said he had intended to put Henry in the microwave. Of course, this was the last straw, but I believe it was my telling Mark I would divorce him that stopped him from actually killing Henry,” Rhonda relays, still not fully believing the ordeal.
“I can’t take the people that say animals are property! Henry has palpable emotions: happy, sad, anxious, excited. How can people say they don’t deserve to be fully protected by the law? Either they don’t care or they don’t understand, but cruelty should be a felony in Utah like it is in almost every other state,” Rhonda shares.
Henry and Rhonda’s story caught the eye of Larayn Clegg, while she was watching the news on TV one evening. “I’ve been involved in trying to get serious anti-cruelty laws in Utah for the last ten years,” says Larayn, one of the founders of Voices Against Violence, and member of the Board of Directors for the Utah Animal Rights Alliance.
“When I saw Henry, and heard what he had been through, I thought here was the spokes model for getting these stricter anti-cruelty bills finally pushed all the way through,” continues Larayn, “Utah being such a family orientated state, it is unfathomable that the state would not embrace anti-cruelty laws, these bills will strengthen families!
"Protecting the weaker members of our society is the law enforcement’s job, but with the laws the way they are it’s like we don’t take this violence seriously. And violence is violence.”
Ten years ago it was the case of Sean Dougherty and a Rottweiler puppy that was beaten mercilessly while his wife looked helplessly on, because the puppy had soiled the carpet. Larayn tells me this is the story that got her involved, and that he is the first person in Utah to serve any jail time for animal cruelty. At the time, animal cruelty was a Class B misdemeanor in Utah, and she and her colleagues at Wasatch Humane started Voices Against Violence to lobby for change. With the help of Utah Animal Rights Alliance they were able to get the Class B misdemeanor bumped up to a Class A, but it’s still not enough.
“Right now as a Class A, the laws are not being enforced. This is a social crime that needs to be addressed, these types of criminals need counseling and to be monitored,” Larayn explains.
“The link between animal abuse and violence towards people is irrefutable, this is not hearsay, this is proven. But what most people don’t get is that animal abuse is domestic violence- to me this is not a leap!” says Ann Davis, founder of Utah Animal Rights Alliance, “It’s also a community campaign, even if the laws are passed and animal cruelty is made a felony, the education must continue. The issue must be kept alive.” Ann, too, was galvanized by the Dougherty case, and appalled at the lack of penalties for tortuous crimes against animals.
“It’s misguided agricultural and hunting interests that have stalled the Senate in getting these anti cruelty bills pushed through,” laments Ann who has seen stricter anti-cruelty bills get through the House of Representatives but not make it through the Senate twice, “ten years ago there was an initiative to get a ban on hunting cougars on the ballot, and the elected officials turned around and banned having any wildlife initiatives on the ballot in Utah, period! It helps illustrate how out of touch Utah is with the rest of the country. Forty-one states have animal cruelty as a felony in America, this is not extreme, radical thinking – this is as mainstream as it gets, and yet Utah is still dragging its feet.”
“We even had Speaker of the House, Mel Brown supporting the stricter anti-cruelty bills, and he’s a dairy man!,” continues Ann, “at the time getting a Class A misdemeanor was such a victory, but it’s time to show Utah that its constituents have a zero tolerance for violence of any kind towards animals: let the punishment fit the crime!”
“Let the punishment fit the crime,” is echoed by another animal advocate, this time not one of the usual suspects. Jessie and her family have lived in Utah a long time: they hunt, they raise hound dogs for hunting and they keep a herd of about sixty Halter horses. These low-key people had no enemies and were well respected by their community. They never thought about the anti-cruelty laws that govern their state, they assumed they were adequate - until a hideous crime was levied against two of their own.
One evening in 2003, two men, Gavin Ewell and Jeremy Katzenbach decided it would be a good time to go torture some horses. One of the men had a grandfather that owned some land near Zion Mountain, and also had the combination to the lock that led into the pasture where the horses were peacefully grazing. This premeditated act of violence included shooting a mare named Tetra Fare who ran a few miles before succumbing to her wounds, and then turning their sights on the only stud in the herd, a stallion named Saint Shem. The two sheetrock workers stabbed and tortured the stud, in what has been speculated as one of the most intentionally painful and gruesome crimes in the history of Kane County against an animal.
When Jessie found out what had happened she was completely horrified! “It’s like losing a child, and to make matters worse, the authorities weren’t trying to help solve this murder. That’s when I found out how lax the anti-cruelty laws are in Utah!”
“My husband started doing some investigating, and he started putting the pieces together and identified the two murderers. He found out the two men were sheetrock workers, and the stab wounds on the stud were congruent with sheetrock knives. He also found out that these were not locals, these guys were from Toquerville. Coincidentally, Toquerville had had a rash of crimes a few months previous to the attack on my horses against dogs, where the dogs were mutilated and then hung on a busy overpass so everyone could see it. I don’t believe these crimes were investigated, and perhaps if they had been my horses wouldn’t have had to die for someone’s sick pleasure,” continues Jessie.
I asked Jessie if she thought the two men were sorry? “Oh they were plenty sorry before we went to court. Acting so remorseful, before the trial they were afraid they were going to go to jail. But after the trial, they were only sorry that they got caught!” relays Jessie with her voice tinged with frustration and horror.
For the slow, bloodthirsty intentional death of two innocent animals these two men were given a sentence of probation and were made to pay restitution to Jessie and her family, which they could pay off in monthly installments of $25! To add insult to injury, they stopped making payments and had to be forced by a Ridgefield Judge to either make the payments or go to jail!
“I know that the agricultural and hunting folks in Utah are afraid of these types of bills, but I wish they could understand it’s not going to interfere with animal husbandry or accepted training practices. This is about cruel and intentional acts of violence, if the constituents could fully understand they would know this is to protect them and their animals not interfere with their livelihoods or their livestock. I wish they could see that this could happen to them, and that they may get the dollar value of their animal, but that this punishment is in no way near fitting the crime. Also, from a legal standpoint even if the crime is solved, since the punishment isn’t very serious, law enforcement agencies don’t really need to bother, it doesn’t make sense to put a lot of man hours into a case that doesn’t really have any penalties.”
“And both these men were newlyweds at the time of this murder! I believe one was already abusing his wife, what kind of message are these laws sending? It’s okay to pick on someone or something that is weaker than you are? The state almost condones torture, abuse, and neglect!” Jessie fretfully ends our interview with these words that ring so true.
The Utah anti-cruelty bills that have a short window of opportunity for passing are:
S. 190 sponsored by Senator Gene Davis (D-Salt Lake) which would make torturing an animal a third felony in the state, and HB 342 introduced by Rep Scott L. Wyatt (R-Logan) which would allow judges to issue orders of protection to help prevent abuse of animals.
Do all you can to help find justice for the animals of Utah:For more on the bills now pending in the Utah legislature to strenghten Utah's animal cruelty laws and how you can make a difference:
http://network.bestfriends.org/animallawcoalition/news/11703.htmlContact Utah Representatives:
http://www.le.state.ut.us/maps/amap.htmlContact Utah Senators:
http://www.utahsenate.org/perl/spage/roster2007.plSign the petition:
http://www.helpushelpthem.org/See how your state laws rank on animal cruelty:
http://www.aldf.org/resources/details.php?id=86