According to a WLJ reader tip and a report by the Salina Journal, Saline County ranchers Beverly and Matthew Fullen moved to dismiss the 169 counts of animal cruelty charges against them on July 27.
Back in April, Saline County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call claiming that the livestock belonging to the mother-son pair were starving and neglected. While there, the deputies euthanized a cow they thought was in distress and seized the remaining 189 head of livestock, including a cow-calf herd with newborn calves and some horses, without consulting a veterinarian and admitting to having no experience in judging livestock condition.
According to the Fullens’ motion, the cow shot by the deputies was in labor, several of the seized cattle died and the condition of all of the seized cattle worsened while in custody, and a horse suffered “significant injuries” by being inappropriately housed “in the vicinity of bulls.”
The motion additionally claimed that a pair of Kansas State University veterinarians, who looked at photos of the animals taken before and at the time they were seized, said the animals were in acceptable to good condition. In their motion for dismissal, the Fullens called the actions of the sheriff’s deputies “outrageous government conduct.”
A respondent at the Saline County District Court told WLJ that Judge Rene Young did not rule on the motion to dismiss the charges on July 27, but that there is another hearing on the dismissal motion on Aug. 21, and if that is not granted, then the case will move to a jury trial in November.
