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Warrant out for Baton Rouge man in animal cruelty case

6 years 1 month 4 weeks ago Monday, January 29 2018 Jan 29, 2018 January 29, 2018 5:30 PM January 29, 2018 in News
Source: WBRZ

PLAQUEMINE - A warrant for arrest is out Monday night for a Baton Rouge man believed to be involved in an animal cruelty case in Iberville Parish. Authorities found one horse dead, and two others in bad condition on a pasture in Plaquemine.

It was a neighbor who first alerted Iberville Animal Control of the situation. She told authorities she smelled the stench of a horse being burned. When Animal Control went to check it out, they found more than expected.

"There's a sore on it's back that continued to rot,” said Iberville Parish Council Director of Operations Mark Migliacio, describing a 7-year-old mare. “There was a bad infection that went up her hoof and into her leg.”

Migliacio took the horse and another from a Plaquemine pasture off of Highway 405. They were living next to trash, a pile of sticks and an abandoned shed. The 7-year-old mare didn't make it.

"[The infection] was getting worse," said Migliacio. "The recommendation from the LSU Vet School was that we euthanize the horse."

Herman Lewis who lives near the pasture remembers seeing the horses.

"They were all skinny, you could see their ribs,” he said.

But Lewis rarely saw the owner. Lewis says he would come around occasionally to feed the horses. Migliacio says two of the horses belonged to 24-year-old Joseph Dewayne who lives in Baton Rouge.

"We told him that he needed to pay us back for using tax payer's money on this horse,” said Migliacio.

Dewayne never paid that money. Now a warrant for his arrest -- one count of cruelty to animals.

"They buy these horses and when it's good weather I'm sure they take care of them and ride them. But when the winter weather comes, they neglect them,” said Migliacio. “We want people to enjoy animals, but they need to take care of them.”

As for the horse burned, Animal Control says since a juvenile is involved in that case and it's ongoing. They cannot comment on it. The second horse they rescued is doing well and will be adopted out shortly.

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