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Cattle Owner Suspected of Animal Abuse Speaks

by KREX News Room
by Danielle Kreutter

Story Created: Apr 5, 2012 at 10:33 PM MDT

Story Updated: Apr 6, 2012 at 8:22 AM MDT

LOMA, Colo. More than 60 head of cattle in Mesa County have been seized by authorities and the owner may face criminal charges.

The Mesa County Sheriff's Office received a call from a concerned citizen about potential animal neglect at 1320 12 1/4 Road in Loma. When officials visited the property, what they found was graphic.

"There were dead animals on the ground, there were animals in various stages of neglect, some serious enough that they had to be euthanized at the property and some that will probably make a great recovery once they get some veterinary treatment," said Sgt. Matt Lewis of the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.

The police report goes into more detail saying the cows were tied to farm equipment and old cars with no accessible water. Officials found many dead carcasses around the property.

"They called it abuse. I don't consider it abuse," said cattle owner John Lawton. He says he was in the process of making conditions better for his animals.

"I was planning to move them onto a pasture on the neighbors' [property] and I also had someone else ... saying he would work with me on trading a few of the cows for more hay," said Lawton.

However, this wasn't the first time authorities had to check on animals at this property.

"This would be our third response, but the first time we've seen anything that actually required any intervention on our part," said Lewis.

After the state veterinarian inspected the animals on the property, he found 65 percent of the herd was underweight and emaciated.

"This is a case where we found conditions that were so poor that had we not intervened, this livestock most likely would have died," said Lewis.

Sheriff's officials tell NewsChannel 5 that they are continuing to investigate this case and are waiting for lab results to come back to show how undernourished those cows were and for how long. After the results come back they will then decide charges to file against Lawton.

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Anon said on Friday, Apr 6 at 8:05 AM

Thank you to the Sheriff's Department for taking action and for the concerned citizen for making the call. There is no excuse for this, cattle are selling for good prices, he should have sold these cattle when they still had weight on them, instead of allowing them to get to this condition. There is always the excuse "well I was working on improving the conditions". To little to late.

Anne Cole said on Friday, Apr 6 at 8:20 AM

Amazing how the repeat offenders, always have such good excuses, pretending they are the victims instead of the animals. Kudos to the sheriff's dept. And water is free, no excuse for that either.

Sweet said on Friday, Apr 6 at 9:03 AM

Nice job on the story. KKCO didn't even have the owner's side. To the other comments, water is not free, and there is an excuse- hay prices are at record highs.

Guest said on Friday, Apr 6 at 9:12 AM

No excuse this guy lives less than a mile a way from sales barn....You can't afford them you sell them...Cattle prices are high..He needed to be turned in sooner....

Anonymous said on Friday, Apr 6 at 9:30 AM

owner doesn't have a defense & this story is joke.

Karen said on Friday, Apr 6 at 10:14 AM

This needs to not go unpunished. Where are the laws protecting our animals? Any kind of abuse to people or animals needs to be treated the same way.

DOH said on Friday, Apr 6 at 11:27 AM

This guy extended the life of these animals!!! If he had sold them off before, you would be chowing the burgers by now. So now the Sheriff may file charges? Why? If this guys wants dead cows around his house, that is his problem! Who's cows are they???

Steve said on Tuesday, Apr 10 at 7:54 AM

Very well reported. This shows both sides of the story and gives confidence to concerned citizens who need to see that law inforcement acts assertivey to take action when aminal owners neglect their livestock. I applauded this station's position on sticking with the horse story and now this one, to pressure the authorities into doing the rght thing for these poor neglected animals.

Bob said on Tuesday, Apr 10 at 8:04 AM

Thank goodness the law stepped in sooner rather than later. I know folks don't want to turn in their neighbors but the condtions here were the worst. A word to the wise, if you can't care for your animals, fix it quickly or someone else will handle it.

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