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Sheriff announces animal cruelty investigation, supports rancher

March 4, 2014

sheep4San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s spokesman Tony Cipolla announced yesterday that the department is conducting a thorough investigation into allegations of animal cruelty by an area sheep rancher.

However, he also stated in the press release that Jean (JB) Jaureguy’s explanation that his sheep died not from animal neglect but from a mild winter storm was accurate. Cipolla noted that because the sheep were sheared several days before the storm, they died as a result of being exposed to the elements.

“The owner indicated that he always shears his sheep in February,” Cipolla wrote. “Several days later, a major rainstorm hit the county, and as a result, several of the sheep became ill and 25 died.”

On Friday, a hiker walking trails at Heritage Ranch discovered dozens of abnormally thin and weak sheep. In addition, there were dead sheep in ravines, in a creek and on hillsides. The hiker called the sheriff and reported possible animal cruelty.

Sheriff Commander Jim Taylor said that because of the drought, the condition of the animals was not unusual. He also noted that the thinness of the sheep may be normal for this type of animal.

“It’s possible for a person not familiar with livestock to view them and feel that they are in a weakened condition when in fact they might not be,” Commander Taylor told KSBY.

Nevertheless, several ranchers who raise sheep said the Jaureguy’s animals look malnourished and that they know no one who shears their sheep this time of year.

Cipolla said the findings of the investigation will be turned over to the District Attorney’s Office for consideration of any possible criminal neglect charges.

 


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Pulling up picture’s on the internet is not the same as knowing what you are talking about. I remember in 4H our sheep would freak out over many things (like extreme weather) and not eat, get sick etc. It is true that most people do not understand ranching and farming as well as they think. There is always a “loss”. Just like in crops, ranchers lose cattle and sheep too. Do you expect our local avocado and lemon ranchers to go and cover up every single tree to help keep it from freezing, no it’s ok for them to run smudge pots and wind machines to cover most of the crops. Animals are the same way, you have to cover most, and sometimes not all. Yes it is sad they died and look the way they do, Yes they might have been a little skinny, but again most of us are on the outside looking in. Also remember farming and ranching is a ever changing business, some good some bad, here in California we forget that in other states every winter there are cattle and other animals that freeze to death every winter!


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So starving animals to death is equivalent to crop loss. These animals did not “freeze to death every winter.” It was 2″ of warm rain. I hope I never meet you, Sounds like you enjoy torturing animals.


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It’s obvious to me that the sheep were starving. All you have to do is take a look at photos of sheared sheep on the internet and you can see the difference. By shearing them right before a storm, the owner guaranteed that they would die from the added stress of shearing and being out in the rain. Then, he has the wool and can write off the dead animals or collect insurance or apply for disaster relief.


If the Sheriff’s Department gives this a pass, then we have a problem in this county with accepted animal cruelty, and we need a sheriff’s deputy or two to examine livestock in the North County like they do in Kern County for animal abuse.


Meanwhile, we have a bunch of North County hayseeds who are defending the videos claiming that they show normal sheep–not starving sheep.

I have never in my life seen or heard from such ignorant people who think they can shout everyone down and disparage the couple who took these videos. It is certainly an eye opener.


Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note that Mr. Jaureguy is one of our welfare farmers getting subsidies from us, the taxpayers: J B Jaureguy received farm subsidies totaling $329,664 from 1995 through 2012; Wool Subsidies $156,699

Livestock Subsidies $75,247

Sheep Meat Subsidies $59,656


http://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=A09031743 –from the commenter, Nobody, on the Paso Robles Daily News


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You know, sometimes it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt! Getting your information from the internet can be a dangerous thing.


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What do subsidies have to do with thr allegations? It’s becoming quite clear that some have jumped the gun.


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Where do you think these subsidies come from? This is taxpayer money, meaning that we taxpayers are helping fund this animal cruelty and abuse.


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”

A picture may speak a thousand words, but it only tells half the story.

March 3, 2014Carin Ryan 29 Comments


Paso Robles Daily News should be ashamed of them selves. As a mater of fact, I’m pretty sure they are ashamed of their reporting because they won’t even assign a by line to the article that just may ruin a man who has had an impeccable reputation in the agriculture industry for 53 years. I can’t even personally call out the reporter who so poorly wrote an article that has broken a man’s heart. They have made unfounded accusations of animal cruelty based on half the story. They didn’t even try to contact the man who stays up nights and works long hours to make sure his sheep are okay. Instead they relied upon the opinion of a couple who happened upon some sheep that were in distress. They did little to help the shepherd who was with the sheep. Instead, they were quick to grab a cell phone video – correction about TEN cell phone videos of sheep in distress.


There are a thousand things this couple could have done: Called the Sheriff’s Department to contact the owner of the animals. Contact the Community Services District where the sheep were leased. ASKED THE SHEPHERD WHAT THEY CAN DO TO HELP! Please explain to me how shooting a video is going to immediately help these animals that they claim to be so concerned about!!??


Cal Coast News at least contacted the rancher who owns the sheep. Reading their article, I was at first a bit shocked to hear the rancher close the article with this quote, “Those people you are talking to are nuts and do not know what they are talking about. It was the storm that hurt them.” He’s right about one thing: Those people who shot the video have no idea what they’re talking about. You see, it’s estimated that only 1% of working Americans are actually involved in production agriculture. So an even smaller percentage of Americans actually know about sheep production!


The couple with the cell phone taking videos were part of the 99% of our population which, most, blissfully believe that their food comes from a grocery store. Truth be told, this couple probably caused more distress for the sheep. These sheep are used to being moved by only their shepherd and his highly skilled team dogs. By minimal human pressure. So the sight of this hysterical couple probably frightened the sheep even more.


I’ll tell you a few things that I personally know. I know that when I do a BING or GOOGLE search of the term “sheep”, you’ll see tons of images of baby lambs, fluffy herds of ewes dotting green hillsides probably somewhere in Ireland, and even a few rams with horns. Not a single photo in the top 100 images on either site of a freshly shorn ewe that has a lamb on her side. I know that when my sister and I were 4H leaders, we brought home several lambs for our kids and were heart broken one day when we received a phone call that one of our kid’s lamb died. No reason, just died. I know that when I was in Shandon FFA, we had a flock that belonged to the school and every year (spring time as a matter of fact) when we sheared the ewes, they looked thin with big bellies and protruding spines. Apply this same logic to humans. What’s the best way for a woman to lose weight after a baby? Breast feed. What does a woman look like a few months after she gives birth? Certainly not the same as she did prior to getting pregnant! These ewes are processing their feed straight into milk for their lambs at an incredibly high rate – just like a nursing human mother does. Things in pictures and videos aren’t always what they seem.


And I know this rancher, personally. He’s a kind and caring man. He’s Basque and from the old country. I did not contact his family for content nor do I have their permission to write about them. I don’t need to. I know him from the Catholic Church I grew up in seeing him often on Sundays. I know him because I grew up with his two sons and daughter. I know him because he’s been a highly respected cattleman and shepherd for over 50 years in our community. It’s a treat to get stuck in a rural traffic jam just to see that it’s one of his bands of sheep moving to their next pasture. Slow and steady, we all patiently wait and watch in awe to see the sheep mindfully cruise down our County roads. A man, a few dogs and a thousand sheep moving miles with no problems.


This rancher has experienced a tragedy based on nature alone. Shortly after shearing his sheep, they were moved into a new location where rain and winds far exceeded what was forecasted. In a drought stricken year, this was the perfect storm. Now he is being forced to deal with a manufactured tragedy from poor reporting and an ill-informed woman with a cell phone video. Coming from a ranching family who is personal friends with this rancher, my heart is breaking for his loss.


I beg you to listen to both sides of the story, to understand that ranchers are among the most compassionate people you will meet and that our animals are part of our family. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family, JB. Best wishes for a full recovery for your family and your herd.”


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This rant is ignorant in so many ways. But it speaks for itself. Does it concern anyone else that we have people in the North County who claim that we the public can’t tell when animals are starving? Who do they think we are? I grew up with cattle ranching, angora goats, chickens and horses, but all you have to do is look on the internet for photos of sheared sheep as compared to starving sheep.


We already have had some cases of horses starving in the North County, and if we have to go to state and federal agencies for investigation, then so be it.


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Please do not post someone’s full comment from some other website, article etc. An excerpt and link is customary.


Your words are best, please use them.


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JB is a good man. I’ve know him, and worked with him for a couple of decades. He would not deliberately, or knowingly starve or mistreat his animals.

Mother Nature can be unusually cruel at times. Farmers and ranchers deal with it the best they can.

As far as I’m concerned this is an anomaly.


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The storm was LESS than forecast, about 2″ of warm, welcome rain. This guy knowingly starved his livestock. And now the Sheriff’s department is working overtime on the cover up.


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“the investigation will be turned over to the District Attorney’s Office”….


The sheep have a better chance of going to Disneyland than the DA doing a damn thing!


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PETA, HSUS aside… I care less what they say. But Commander Taylor, did you really say this?.. “It’s possible for a person not familiar with livestock to view them and feel that they are in a weakened condition when in fact they might not be,” Commander Taylor told KSBY”. Do you think we are all hysterical city slickers? Or are you going to come back later and say this was just a general statement, not related to this case? Geez. There is no “feel” here, these animals WERE in a weakened state..they were dying and some were dead! Fact. Now, you should care, and investigate, not try to tell people they don’t understand what they saw. You may think this is the nicest and best sheep rancher in the world… but he blew it here. Big time. There is no excuse for the condition of these sheep, and the way they were being treated in the videos. None.


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I saw this deputy’s interviews, both of them, and it is obvious he is speaking in general. He said in one that they don’t comment about active investigations, which they shouldn’t do.

Again ask how you would want the sheriff to handle this investigation and YOU were the focus. Any of us would want equal objective fact finding, not a bunch of hysterics with badges.


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for hysterics you need a kilo of pot strapped on the lambs


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Touche’


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How would this rancher feel about being stripped of his clothing and left outside in February? Especially in an exceptionally lean year? A matter of economocs, not the wellfare of sentient creatures at work here, in my opinion. Common sense, decency and respect should be applied when dealing with any creature. That should go double for those in our care and that supply sustinance for us.


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PETA and HSUS care about money, not animals. HSUS is more crooked than PETA.


Humane Watch

http://www.humanewatch.org


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PETA wackos are propaganda-fabricating liars. PETA is based on fraud and deceit.


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how so


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Rank & file PETA members may just be naively ideological fanatics but the leadership is hypocritical and fraudulent. They maintain an “animal shelter” in Norfolk, Virginia which may have the worst kill rate in the country (~90%) and makes little or no attempt to adopt out the animals they take in. They claim it is a “shelter of last resort” for that region and that euthanasia is the only option in most cases. You can believe them or not about this but it flies in the face of their very public advocacy of “no kill” shelters.


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But they are true to their mission and do not deviate. They are like the NRA – seemingly political when you have an opposing view, but they are only political to keep their mission on target. I respect them for that, even though I do not agree with many of their tactics and ideologies.


Also like the NRA, their mere existence and “propaganda” cause many to have conversations and considerations outside their comfort zone.


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I have a feeling that Tony Cipolla goes to the highest bidder.


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How much you think Tony could fetch??


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