LITTLE ROCK — Tony the Pony - great name, eh, for the horse that will forever be known as the first animal in Arkansas to send its owner to prison.
Four years: two behind bars, two suspended, eligible for parole in about eight months.
After going through three public defenders in 2010, Robert Keck pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one felony count of aggravated cruelty to an animal.
“He was handcuffed on the spot,” reports Mike Sappington, deputy prosecuting attorney in Saline County.
This is not the first arrest and conviction under the law, which went into effect in 2009, but it is the first prison sentenced meted. “As far as I can tell, he is the first,” says Dina Tyler of the Arkansas Department of Correction.
“There is a chance that someone received a suspended sentence and I wouldn’t know.” Arkansas Code 5-62-104 protects dogs, cats and horses.
A day after Mr.
Sappington called Kay Simpson with news of the plea, the director of the Humane Society of Pulaski County was emotional and optimistic about future prosecutions.
“I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve done the abuse cases, animals near death, and people didn’t get jail time or fines. Then it changes.
All of a sudden you get a conviction,” she says.
“The voices of animals are finally being heard. It about brings me to tears.”
Tony was malnourished and dehydrated when deputies and rescuers found him, three other neglected horses and four skin-and-bone dogs late in 2009.
“He was leaning against the fence. He weighed 93 pounds,” says Kay, who notes that’s about half what the miniature horse should weigh.
Tony was days, if not hours, from death, she says, and the vet kept the IV tubes in for five days.
The pasture was muddy and barren, and there was no hay or feed or water.
The dogs were tied to trees.
“Every animal showed signs of significant weight loss,” Mr. Sappington says. “I had about nine animals in varying degrees of starvation. All had worms. It’s bizarre to see a horse so skinny. [Tony] was in worse shape than all the others.”
Tony, now running free with 37 other rescued horses in a 98-acre pasture, is back to a healthy 180 pounds. He is a palomino, with a flaxen mane and tail.
After Mr. Keck finishes his time in prison, Mr.
Sappington says, he must pay $2,000 to the Humane Society for the money it spent caring for the animals.
“I would have loved to have been in the courtroom when he was sentenced,” says Kay, recalling the moment Mr.
Sappington telephoned with the news. “I sat right down and cried.”
MEA GULPA: It’s Steele, with an “e” at the end, which I omitted in Tuesday’s mention of former Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Steele Hays, in a column about Mary Stallcup, the first woman attorney general in Arkansas history.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 01/20/2011