Following the seizure of 23 animals from his Whitefield farm, Robert “Cisco” Barnes, 56, failed to show how those animals have been receiving adequate care, according to Judge Daniel Billings.
“His attempts to do his best were not sufficient,” Billings said at Barnes’ initial appearance in Wiscasset District Court on Jan. 14.
Complaints and concerns have been raised as far back as 2009 over the care and welfare of animals in Barnes’ possession. Since then, a number of inspections by state animal welfare and agricultural compliance agents have found him to be in compliance with the requirements for food, water, and shelter.
Twenty-three animals, including five pigs, two goats, a goose, a turkey, a domestic cat and a number of chickens, ducks, and rabbits were removed from Barnes’ property during seizures on Jan. 5 and 11. The seizures were authorized by two separate ex parte orders, according to court documents.
In a signed statement, Whitefield Animal Control Officer Margaret “Peggy” Sirois wrote that she first received a complaint on Nov. 21 about pigs located somewhere along Rt. 218 in an area that didn’t have proper drainage.
A second call on Nov. 24, this time about a black pig loose on Rt. 218, lead Sirois to Barnes’ residence. After locating the pig and following the pig across part of Barnes’ property, Sirois located pig-pens for that pig and others.
The pens weren’t appropriate to house the pigs, Sirois testified in court. The pens did not have waterproof roofs, one did not have the required three walls to protect from the wind and another had a number of holes in the walls, she said.
“There was no bedding; they were literally in these pens that resembled more crates than pens,” Sirois said. “It was all mud, it was nothing but mud.”
Following another complaint about the pigs being kept in standing water, Sirois notified the Department of Agriculture’s Animal Welfare Program and returned to Barnes’ property on Dec. 30, 2012.
That day, the small black pig which was previously loose in the roadway had ice chunks hanging from her hair, Sirois wrote. A larger black sow was laying in a hole dug in the frozen mud and was “visibly shivering and her breathing seemed abnormal.”
Offers to assist Barnes in fencing in an area around a new shelter he had purchased and placed elsewhere on his property were refused, she wrote.
Barnes was notified on Dec. 31, 2012 that he needed to repair the shelters and give the pigs a way to get off the ground, and on Jan. 2 he was given a deadline of Jan. 4 to make the improvements, Sirois wrote.
According to Sirois’ statement, after she explained to Barnes that his animals would be seized if he didn’t make the improvements, Barnes allegedly said “Good, give me a heads up to when you’re coming so I can shoot them first.”
In his testimony, Barnes confirmed he said he would shoot the animals, but for the purpose of keeping his investment of thousands of dollars in the animals’ meat.
“I thought I was talking to a friend; I’ve known Margaret for many, many years,” Barnes said. “I just didn’t want our investment in meat to be hauled away.”
After visiting Barnes’ property on Jan. 5 and concluding the repairs he’d made to the pig-pens were not adequate, Sirois and others seized the two goats and five pigs.
During that first seizure, Sirois became aware of the living conditions of Barnes’ other animals. The goats, birds, and rabbits did not appear to have proper shelter, water, or food, Sirois said.
Frozen oats were kept outside in open buckets, the goats appeared to be living in an abandoned Volkswagen bus, the birds appeared to be fully free-range and the rabbits appeared to be living on top of two inches of rabbit and bird feces, Sirois said.
Sirois returned on Jan. 11 to seize the remaining animals.
Barnes said he kept two pigs in one pen and a small pig in another, but the pens had not been moved in a while because someone had tampered with his tractor and it was not currently operational.
“Yes, at times during the year the pens get really muddy. If my tractor’s down and I can’t move them, it’s sad,” Barnes said.
Sirois acknowledged in her statement that, in addition to hay and straw she put in the pens, Barnes had added hay to the pens on at least one occasion.
Some of the animals may have appeared that they weren’t being taken care of since they were loose during the day, Barnes said.
“All my animals are in fine shape; they’re healthy and being taken care of twice a day,” Barnes said. Each was fed and watered twice a day and had bedding, he said.
“All the supplies are still sitting there,” Barnes said. Though not the only feed he gives his animals, the frozen oats stored outdoors are thawed out before being given to the animals and frozen oats seen in the pens were probably left over from previous feedings, Barnes said.
Enough liquid water was given so the animals could drink their fill twice a day and it wouldn’t turn into a block of ice in the dishes, Barnes said. “We get to know our animals, how much water they need,” he said.
The goats that Sirois saw in the VW bus actually had a small house to live in, Barnes said. “[The VW bus] was never meant for them to be fed [in] or used for a home.”
In his closing statement, Barnes asked for the opportunity to show the housing is up to par and his animals will be taken care of.
“I will do whatever the court requires of me to return my homestead to the way I have meant it to be to raise my own meat,” Barnes said.
In his closing statement, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wright said there is a clear danger Barnes would kill or injure his animals, adding Barnes had not stated any reason why he couldn’t comply with requests or time-frames for improvements to the animals’ living conditions.
In his judgment, Billings found Barnes had not met the burden required to have his animals returned to him. Billings ordered a lien of $600 be placed against Barnes for the care and custody of the animals, and that Barnes, if he wishes to appeal, must post a $10,000 secured bond to ensure the care of the animals during the appeal process.
Following the proceedings, Sirois issued Barnes a summons for cruelty to animals.
Asked for comment about the findings of the court, Barnes said he was “very upset” and “confused.”
