Animal abuse charges filed after April raid in Millersville

A judge determined Wednesday that animals seized from a rural Cape Girardeau County home in late April were neglected but not abused.

Judge Scott Lipke made the determination during a disposition hearing for about 25 animals seized April 30 from the Millersville-area home belonging to Paulette Maria Tidwell. Lipke said all the animals but two chicks and two cockatiels suffered from neglect.

Tidwell and her attorney, Diane Howard, declined to comment. The animals would not be returned to Tidwell, officials said.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle on Tuesday filed charges of misdemeanor animal abuse against Tidwell. He has been unavailable for comment on how Lipke's decision will affect his case.

Tidwell is scheduled to be arraigned on the misdemeanor charges June 4, according to online court records.

Two of the counts against Tidwell allege she knowingly failed to provide adequate care for dachshunds named Sampson and Bogart while they were in her care, according to information released by Swingle. The other charges allege she failed to provide adequate care for a poodle named Coal Miners Find, a kitten and a donkey.

Following a tip to the Missouri Department of Agriculture's Animal Operation Bark Alert, officials served a warrant on property Tidwell and her husband owned at 1421 County Road 354.

The tip indicated that animals were kept in substandard conditions at the unlicensed facility, were used for commercial breeding purposes and that nine dogs and a cat were sold April 21.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Brenda Cone wrote in her probable-cause statement that after she received the tip, she checked a website for the auction company listing the Tidwells' property. Among the items were a "trained Amish pony with cart and harness," seven dogs and a macaw.

Shortly before the auction started, Tidwell was informed she would not be able to sell the animals without proper licensing. The animals were not auctioned. Instead, a local woman bought nine dogs, including two dachshunds, two Chihuahuas, one Papillon, one King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, one poodle, one beagle and one Chihuahua-pinscher mix.

The woman gave the dogs to the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri, court documents said.

Requi Salter, the interim director of the organization, told investigators all nine dogs were taken to the LaCroix Pet Hospital on April 23.

On April 30, authorities seized nine dogs, five cats, a quarter horse, two donkeys, two ponies, a rooster, two chicks, two cockatiels and two macaws from Tidwell's property, the Missouri Department of Agriculture said. The task force, made up of Department of Agriculture, Missouri State Highway Patrol and Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department personnel, removed the animals from "substandard conditions," the agency said. Authorities took the animals to St. Louis after the seizure.

Tidwell told Cone the animals had not been seen by a veterinarian for about three years, Cone said in the statement.

Tidwell "said she had been going through a divorce and did not know if she would be able to keep her animals because of the divorce, and did not want to spend money on veterinary bills if she was not going to keep the animals," Cone's statement said.

Tidwell was a licensed commercial breeder until 2009, at which time she notified the department she was no longer operating as a commercial breeder and did not renew her license with the animal care program, officials said.

jgamm@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

1421 County Road 354, Millersville, MO