These beef cattle are hardly ever fed. They are
so thin you can see their ribs. Only the
hide of this dead one remains, and Skeleton
from others.
From the looks of these cattle, Humane Society
officials say they are obviously malnourished
and could possibly be diseased. The average
weight should be about £500, but some
are down to as low as 200.
Olita Sheet owns the cattle. She says at age 73
she does her best to feed the herd. Although
she admits the cattle need to be properly fed,
she says part of the thinness comes from
inbreeding. But regardless, Sheet could be
thrown in jail for cruelty to animals.
Are you scared you might get arrested because
of this?
Well, I don't aim to be. If that's what they
want to do, that's what they'll do.
We're going to see that some hay has gotten
here, and we're going to see that the cattle
are taken care of. We're going to encourage her
to sell the cattle.
Jerry Owens, with the legal protection of the
Humane Society, says he will work with
Sheet to avoid having her arrested in her old
age. But he says if Sheet doesn't cooperate,
he will be forced to do otherwise and seize the
cattle altogether. While Sheet calls the
entire matter harassment, someone wanting to
steal her land and cattle away from her,
law enforcement officials call it a Class A
misdemeanor, a serious crime.
In Comanche County, Bernadette Willard, Channel
5 News.