WINTON, N.C. — A jury on Feb. 2 declared two People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals workers guilty of littering by dumping animal carcasses in a dumpster behind an Ahoskie, N.C. supermarket but dismissed charges of animal cruelty.
Adria Hinkle and Andrew Cook were cleared of eight misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. Hinkle also was found not guilty of three felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses.
Cook, an employee for only three weeks, said he was only “following orders” of his PETA superiors, including Hinkle.
The pair received a wrist slap because of a last-minute surprise court appearance by a young woman. The woman, Karen Hoggard — who was asked to stand up to allow Hinkle to claim she had taken possession of the pets from her and not someone else at an animal shelter — later was visibly shaken outside the courtroom, a reporter said.
When asked by the reporter, Hoggard said Hinkle was incorrect when Hinkle identified her as the one who gave pets to Hinkle and Cook.
Testimony by Ahoskie animal-shelter hospital employees earlier indicated Hinkle and Cook said they’d transport the dogs and cats to Norfolk, Va., (PETA headquarters) and find homes for the animals. However, the two PETA employees, while still in Ahoskie, killed the pets in the back of their van with lethal injections minutes after receiving them from shelter workers.
Hinkle and Cook received 10-day suspended jail sentences and year of supervised probation. Their van will be confiscated by police and each was ordered to pay about $4,000 in fines and restitution and perform 50 hours of community service.
“Justice was served,” Hinkle said after leaving the courtroom.
The jury, was chosen after PETA lawyers used preemptive challenges to dismiss one woman who wore a Bass Pro Shops shirt, a hunter, a health-care worker, and a pet owner who has seven dogs. four cats, a rabbit and a fish. PETA lawyers approved the selection of three workers from a local chicken-processing plant, individuals whose job is the slaughter and dismemberment of birds.
PETA, which garners donations by demanding rights for animals, admitted killing more than 14,400 pets since 1998.
Trial testimony revealed PETA has a huge walk-in cooler at its Norfolk headquarters to contain dead animals and has no facility to care for large numbers of dogs, cats and other animals.
PETA also has no permit from North Carolina to bring lethal injection serum — sodium pentobarbital — into North Carolina. PETA’s charter with Virginia also indicates it must house animals for five days before they can be killed.
PETA, which consistently compares deaths of chickens and cows in the U.S. to the Nazi Holocaust, kept meticulous records of the animals it picked up and slaughtered.
For more information about this trial, see a Newsbreaker in the March 2007 issue of North Carolina Sportsman.
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