MERCER, PA. Help steps in to aid farm's starving cattle
The farmers were given 30 days to improve the condition of their animals.
MERCER, Pa. -- The Mercer County Humane Society's threat to take what it said were 30 starving cattle from an East Lackawannock Township farm may have helped the animals get what they need.
Humane agent Cyndi Sankey said friends and family of Robert J. and Sarah Bagnall have stepped forward to help care for the animals at the Bagnall's Flat Road farm.
Sankey and Pennsylvania State Police visited the farm Thursday, warning Bagnall the cattle would be seized the next day because they were starving. One cow was near death and had to be euthanized by a veterinarian, Sankey said.
New care
The threat of seizure has been delayed, Sankey said Tuesday, explaining that the couple's granddaughter Jamie Whetzel and her husband, Jeff, have agreed to take responsibility for the animals.
The cattle will be moved to better pasture on the farm, and other farmers who visited the site when Sankey returned Monday agreed to help out, she said.
A veterinarian will map out a course of improved feeding, and the humane society will give the Bagnalls 30 days to improve the health of their animals.
It's clear to Sankey the Bagnalls couldn't care for their cows and 14 pigs on their own and needed help. The society's action has resulted in that help stepping forward, she said.
In return for the 30-day delay, the Bagnalls will sell the pigs and, as the cattle are fattened, most of them will be sold as well, Sankey said.
Bagnall still faces a criminal charge of harassing Sankey.
He reportedly kicked her in the leg the day she told him his cattle would be seized and state police, who witnessed the assault, charged him with harassment.