Busy week for LCSO ag deputies with cows and horses in custody
With seven horses and eight cows behind bars, the Lee County Jail looked more like a farm last week.
"We stay extremely busy, but this past week has been really abnormal," said Sgt. Randy Hodges, with the Lee County Sheriff's Office Agricultural Unit.
On Monday, seven horses remained after the cows were claimed from the pen off of Ortiz Avenue in Fort Myers. Four of the horses are considered "at large" or lost, while three are from the sheriff's office's latest animal cruelty case. The busy week included a cow rescue from a deep puddle of mud, Hodges said.
Robert Mullins Jr., 33, was arrested Thursday on a misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals. He was released that same day on a $1,500 bond. Mullins could not be reached for comment Monday. An attorney has not been listed for him, according to the Lee County Clerk of Court website.
Most of the cases the agricultural unit investigates begin as calls about loose animals.That was the case for Mullins' three horses. A neighbor called the sheriff's office to complain about the animals roaming on her property in the 5300 block of Jackson Road.
When they saw the condition of the animals, Hodges and his partner Deputy Thomas Lewis decided the case was more than just loose livestock.
One of the horses, a Bay Roan Mare, had its ribs exposed and its hip bones were protruding. That horse, according to an arrest report, was near starvation. The other two, a Bay Stallion and Paint Mare, were not doing too well, either.
Two days after the horses were confiscated, Mullins called the sheriff's office to see if they knew where his livestock went. They did and he was arrested.
A judge will decide if Mullins keeps the horses, Hodges said.
A lot of the time, owners will set their livestock free because they can't afford to care for them.
"In the middle of the night, they'll turn them loose in the middle of the highway, which is the worst you can do," Hodges said. "So we build them up and we get rid of them ... They are sold at auction."
Hodges said he's noticed an uptick in loose pot-bellied pigs, probably from people buying tiny piglets, but not expecting them to grow.
"Everyone of the animals I've seen that's been brought here that's malnourished, you can just tell how thankful they are," said Tiffany Wood, public information officer for LCSO.
Hodges has been part of the agricultural unit for almost 17 years. He grew up in east Fort Myers around livestock.
"We are fortunate that we don't see a lot of cruelty cases, but they do happen," he said. "It's frustrating. You don't want to see any animals suffer."
But, that's why making an arrest is fulfilling, he added.
"It's a different kind of police work," he said.