Nearly 70 animals retrieved in Iberia Parish

Approximately 68 animals left in a state of neglect were rescued last week after a group of concerned citizens led by Jeanerette’s Toney Wade carried out an operation to remove them from a dire situation.
It still remains to be verified, but the seizure last week of a wide variety of farm animals including horses, pigs, rabbits and birds could be one of the largest such seizures in the history of the state of Louisiana.
Wade, who runs the Louisiana Animal Cruelty Investigation Task Force, said the seizure was definitely the largest in the history of Iberia Parish. Wade is based out of Jeanerette but carries out rescue operations all over the state.
“We did confirm that it was the largest ever in Iberia Parish,” Wade said. “It was a big case. There was one dog, a couple cats, four horses, eight pigs, a bunch of rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese. There were all kinds of things. These animals were in horrible shape. They were skinny. They had no bedding. It was not a pleasant scene at all.”
Wade and his team have been busy this year, having seized over a hundred horses alone since January. And while sometimes operations can take months, even a year to get to the point where animals can finally be removed from a neglectful situation, as was the case several weeks ago with two horses in the Baldwin area, this case developed rapidly.
Wade said he and his team were fortunate to have found temporary sanctuary for so many animals on such short notice.
“We got lucky on this one,” Wade said. “We were able to get all the animals placed. I honestly don’t know how we were able to get it done so fast. That usually doesn’t happen, but this time it did.”
Wade said he was tipped off about the state of the animals and responded to the scene. He said, while not the worst case of neglect he had ever encountered, it was one of the largest in terms of the amount of animals being treated inhumanely.
“It was pretty close to the worst,” Wade said. “I’ve never seen pigs that skinny before. The horses were in horrible conditions. It ranks up there with one of the worst.”
According to Wade, the owner of the animals will be charged with 68 counts of animal cruelty which is a misdemeanor. He said that could change depending on how the parish decides to handle the case.
Wade said, when he looks back and reflects on such an active year in cases of animal cruelty and the amount of seizures he has been involved with, what it means to him is the word is getting out that such behavior will not be tolerated in Louisiana and a lot of that is due to enhanced cooperation from law enforcement agencies.
“I’ve seen drastic improvement in how animal cases are handled as compared to the same time last year,” Wade said. “The police agencies are working hard with us and trying to help us out. I don’t think animal cruelty is getting worse. I think things are getting better. The public is more aware of it because the media is out there with us. We’ve been dealing with these things for a long time. It’s just now that it is getting the attention that it deserves. I think it’s getting better. But we still have a long way to go.”