Klamath Falls, Ore. – A Klamath County man is charged with 32 felony counts of second degree animal neglect.
Klamath County Animal Control Officer Jim Nielsen says the rescue was made from a home on Medicine Mountain Driver near Beatty. “On Friday, we served a search warrant, and seized 32 animals total – three horses, seven chickens, and twenty-two dogs and puppies.”
67 year old Kenneth Lawrence Hershey is charged with multiple counts of animal neglect.
“Didn’t have any food or water pretty much when we were out there,” said Officer Nielsen on the condition of the animals. “Definitely they were in pretty rough shape.”
Klamath County Animal Control was assisted by the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office, the Klamath Large Animal Division, and special investigators from the Oregon Humane Society in Portland.
“We’ve received some training in animal cruelty investigations from them,” explained Nielsen. “And whenever we start running into stuff like that, we give them a holler.”
The animals and birds are being cared for at the Klamath Humane Society, and Large Animal Shelter.
Hershey was released from jail on Sunday.
A criminal history search shows that Hershey has faced unrelated claims of animal cruelty in California, Texas, and Florida.
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