Authorities seized numerous horses, dogs and birds from the Pleasant Valley Farm on Route 153 in what New Hampshire SPCA officials have called the worst case of animal neglect they have ever seen.

  (Photo courtesy of John Huff/Foster's Daily Democrat)

The property at 98 Route 153 came to police attention after a town police officer was called there to assist property owner Albert Colburn with a horse stuck in the mud, according to a release issued by the Middleton Police Department.

The SPCA says the mud was actually manure more than two feet deep, and the exhausted horse had to be euthanized.

Firefighters from town and neighboring Milton were called in to help and eventually a veterinarian was called in to put down the horse.

A search warrant was later secured and it was executed when police and authorities from the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Strafford County Sheriff's Department descended upon the property. That visit revealed other animals living in a yard littered with the carcasses of horses, dogs and llamas.

Officials removed three horses, nine dogs and four birds. The surviving horses include a young colt in serious condition. The emaciated dogs are mostly German shorthaired pointers.

There was no room in the rescue trucks for two large pigs and their piglets, which are supposed to be moved at a later date.

The rescued animals have been taken to various shelters.

  (Photo courtesy of the NH SPCA - the dogs mostly German Shorthaired Pointers are emaciated.  5 dogs went to the Cocheco Valley Humane Society for care, while the others are at the NH SPCA in Stratham)

SPCA's Steve Sprowl stated the property owner is a hoarder who let conditions get out of control.

The property had trash in the driveway and chickens could be heard in the backyard. A black pig was walking freely in the driveway. There was also a red jeep parked on the property.

The incident remains under investigation and Colburn has not been charged with any crime.

Officials at the Cocheco Valley Humane Society and the TNT Equine Clinic also assisted, according to the police release.

Update 3/25/10:  Colburn was arrested at his home on animal cruelty charges, police said.

Colburn was charged with 11 counts of animal cruelty, police Chief Randy Sobel said. “He was arrested with incident,” Sobel said.

Colburn was released on $11,000 personal recognizance bail and is scheduled for arraignment in Rochester district Court on June 1.

Sobel said each of the 11 charges relates to a live animal that was taken from the home. “They were denied the necessary shelter, care, food and water, which covers the living conditions and the nutrition of the animal,” he said.

Update 3/26/10:  The owner of the property where numerous animals were seized has been charged with 11 counts of animal cruelty.

Albert Colburn, 70, of 98 Route 153, was arrested according to Police Chief Randy Sobel.  "He was arrested without incident," Sobel said.

All the charges are Class A misdemeanors, each punishable by up to a year in jail.

Colburn is free on $11,000 personal recognizance bail and is scheduled for a June 1 arraignment at Rochester District Court.

Colburn's arrest came hours after authorities from multiple agencies descended upon the property to seize the animals.

A total of 16 animals were seized from the property, known as the Pleasant Valley Farm, including three horses, nine dogs and four birds.

NH SPCA's Steve Sprowl stated, "There was lots of deceased animals on the property," he said. "I literally stopped counting."  The remains included skeletons of dogs, peacocks, llamas, goats and a deer.

Sprowl said one of the more disturbing sites was of a dead llama that had clearly been trying to escape a shed, when she succumbed and died. Her skull lay halfway out of the shed door, which couldn't be opened due to the manure piled against it  "All of the animals are underweight and they're going to need some special 'TLC' to put the weight back on," he said.

SPCA officials were also called to Colburn's property last year after they received a report of a horse that wasn't appropriately sheltered.

Sprowl said the horse was in good shape and there was no shelter issues. He added that he could only see the horse from the road because Colburn wouldn't let him on the property. Since officials couldn't go on the property, they had no idea how bad it was, Sprowl said.

Enough probable cause for a search warrant was secured this week when police were called to the property to assist Colburn with a horse that was trapped in its own feces. The horse had been down for seven hours before help was called.  "It had completely exhausted itself and given up at that point," he said.  A veterinarian eventually determined the horse needed to be euthanized.

The rescued animals are currently doing well and are being sheltered at the SPCA in Stratham and at the Cocheco Valley Humane Society in Dover, Sprowl said.

The New Hampshire SPCA is asking the community for its support in caring for these and other rescued animals. Individuals and companies wishing to help with the food, supplies, medical treatment, etc. can make a tax deductible contribution to the NHSPCA.

Donations should be directed to the SOS Fund and can be made via the website at www.nhspca.org, by phone at 603-772-2921 x106 or by mail to SOS Fund, PO Box 196, Stratham NH 03885.

Wakefield police reports shows on January 28, 2010 Colburn was charged with DWI.

Update 4/22/10:  Colburn is seeking to regain ownership over some of the animals.  The New Hampshire Society for the Prevention and Cruelty to Animals is fighting the request and has filed their own court challenge seeking to maintain permanent custody and ownership over the animals.

The situation was so bad at the Pleasant Valley Farm, authorities say they believe pigs that were on the Route 153 property were likely eating the carcasses of other animals at the farm.

A hearing on the matter of custody of the animals is scheduled for May 15 in Strafford County Superior Court.

The NHSPCA went to Colburn's property on two occasions to seize animals.  During both occasions Colburn completed a form voluntarily surrendering the animals, according to the NHSPCA's petition for permanent custody.

Colburn has retained legal counsel from Ossippe attorney Erland McLetchie and is challenging the validity of the volunteer surrender forms and is asking to regain ownership over three German shorthair pointer dogs (Rosey, Jack and Tammy), a dog (Blackie) and a horse (Mia).

"The NHSPCA files this petition based on its refusal to surrender any animals to Mr. Colburn," the petition states. "The NHSPCA seeks a judicial determination that Mr. Colburn's execution of the voluntary surrender forms is valid, and that the NHSPCA is now the legal owners of the rescued animals."

Additionally, the NHSPCA is seeking a judicial determination that would make Colburn responsible for any fees the organization incurs while taking care of the animals.

During the first seizure of animals by the NHSPCA on March 24, authorities seized 16 animals, including three horses, nine dogs and four birds. Authorities also found numerous deceased animals on the property, including the skeletons of dogs, peacocks, llamas, goats and a deer.

A second seizure on April 2 yielded the rescue of two llamas, two peacocks, two potbellied pigs, three piglets and five ducks.

The second seizure was prompted by a court order from County Attorney Tom Velardi, who had requested, and was granted, an emergency bail modification that prevented Colburn from having any domesticated animals or livestock on his property.

Velardi's motion was spurred on by multiple citizen complaints about Colburn's property following the first seizure of animals.

According to court documents, the complaints included pigs roaming about Colburn's property and loose pigs being in the road.

Middleton Police Chief Randy Sobel responded to Colburn's property twice after receiving the complaints and observed pigs roaming the property and eating trash, according to court documents. On both occasions he was unable to make contact with Colburn.

NHSPCA Field Services Manager Steve Sprowl said one of the more disturbing sites was of a dead llama that had clearly been trying to escape a shed, when she succumbed and died. Her skull lay halfway out of the shed door, which couldn't be opened due to the manure piled against it.

A brief report of the incident that was attached to the NHSPCA's court filing revealed even more gruesome details. Deme Erickson, a veterinarian from TNT Equine in Dover, filed the report.

The report noted the adult pigs on the property had good weight on them, but no food.

"Since pigs can be carnivores, I feel they have been maintaining their weight by eating the body parts of the dead animals around the yard," the report reads.

Erickson's reports also notes several dead animals on the property.

"In all my years of being a veterinarian I really have difficulty describing the deplorable living conditions for the animals and Mr. Colburn that was observed on that day, Erickson wrote.

The initial seizure of animals from Colburn's property stemmed from a March 23 incident when police were called to the property to assist Colburn with a horse that was trapped in its own feces.

The horse had been down for seven hours before help was called and a veterinarian eventually determined the horse needed to be euthanized.

The rescued animals continue to recover at the SPCA in Stratham and at the Cocheco Valley Humane Society in Dover.

Update 6/2/10:  Colburn waived his arraignment and is scheduled for a June 22 trial.

Colburn pleaded not guilty to the charges through his attorney, Erland McLetchie. Colburn was charged following a call to assist with a horse stuck in the mud.

The New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the mud was actually manure.

A filing by TNT Equine of Dover in Strafford County Superior Court outlines what investigators saw when they toured Colburn's property. The filing states the inside of his home contained "mounds of empty liquor bottles" and that investigators had to carefully step through garbage. They were unable to see any part of the floor, which had about a 12-inch-thick covering of trash, it said.

The TNT Equine filing also reported caged animals, both living and deceased, with no food or water dishes nearby. Some animals had to contend with piles of manure and various medical ailments. Skeletons littered the yard, and there were several pigs on the property that one veterinarian believed survived by consuming the body parts of other dead animals.

"In all my years of being a veterinarian I really have difficulty describing the deplorable living conditions for the animals and Mr. Colburn that was observed on that day," the filing states.

The state's witnesses, according to court documents, include Middleton police and a firefighter, Farmington's Animal Control Officer and representatives with TNT Equine Clinic, SPCA and the Animal Health Center in Rochester.

Update 6/23/10:  A District Court judge found Colburn guilty of 11 counts of animal cruelty and forbid him from owning animals for three years.

Colburn went to trial on allegations he neglected to provide adequate food, water and shelter to dogs and horses on his Middleton farm. Colburn, a former Farmington school teacher of 30 years and a University of New Hampshire graduate with a biology degree, not only denied the state’s allegations, but wanted to get his animals back.

Interim Middleton Fire Chief Lon Berry and Middleton police officer Dave Winship, Jr., veterinarians and a member of the Society for the prevention of Cruelty To Animals, testified about the deplorable conditions.

  (Photo courtesy of John Huff/Foster's Daily Democrat - Colburn's property)

A variety of animals lived on the farm, including birds, pigs, llamas, dogs and horses. Officials testified they found animals in emaciated states with inadequate food and water. Winship said he found a deceased black lab in a cage that Colburn told him “had been there for a couple months.”

Everywhere you walked around the property you were seeing skeletal remains,” said Steven Sprowl, a SPCA investigator.

Police and firefighters were called to Pleasant Valley Farm to assist with moving a horse that was stuck in the mud. Witnesses said the mud was actually a knee-deep mixture of mud and feces.

Berry said Milton firefighters were called in to assist his department, but even with 15-20 firefighters trying for hours, they were unable to get the horse named Scarlet to stand up.

“She’d fall back down and we tried again,” he said .Throughout the effort, the horse showed no signs of strength, had labored breathing and rolled her eyes into the back of her head, Berry said.

According to Colburn, who took the stand in his own defense, the horse was “cast” in the stall, which occurs when the horse lies down too close to a wall and gets stuck.

“She got cast and she was totally panic-stricken. We tried everything in our power to get her up,” he said. “In my head I knew Scarlet was going to have to be euthanized.”

Dr. Elizabeth Xavier, an equine veterinarian with TNT Equine in Dover, was called to the farm late on the night of March 23. With only the illumination of a flashlight and headlamp, she checked on the horse through “thick mud and manure up to my knees.”

She described the scene as “shocking,” saying there was no bedding and the horse was breathing in agony with other horses clustered around her. The downed horse had mud and manure in her nose and eyes that Xavier “scooped” out. The horse was near-comatose and her gums were white, a sign of shock, she said.

The next day, Sprowl removed eight dogs and a number of other animals. He said the conditions in the kennel had the dogs in close contact with mud, feces and urine.

“For the most part they were out running around in the mud and feces,” he said. “My concern was that (the deceased dogs) had starved to death” and had been “thrown out like trash,” he added.

The horses in the barn, Sprowl said, were all “very skinny” and one had a parasite issue on its back. When Sprowl went to investigate the condition of two llamas, he found one dead. He said Colburn told him the animal was alive that morning.

“Animals are literally dying between the rescue on March 23 and the execution of the search warrant on March 24,” said count Attorney Thomas Velardi.

“It was just squalor they were living in. They had to be removed, “ Sprowl said.

Deme Erickson, the owner of TNT Equine, has known Colburn for 20 years and said his farm was never in this condition before.

“He did care for them in the past and this was a gross departure from that,” she said. ”There had been some rumors things were deteriorating for two to three years.”

  (Photo courtesy of Joey Cresta/Fosters Daily Democrat - Colburn on the stand)

When Colburn took the stand, he denied neglecting the animals, saying he fed and provided water to them twice a day. He said he spent $100 weekly at Blue Seal on dog food, horse grain and whole corn, and still has “probably 100 bales of hay” in his garage. When asked if he would consider the animals to be too thin, he said, “I don’t think so.” He said the horse the firefighters were unable to move “must’ve weighed a good 1,200 pounds.”

The mud issue he blamed on heavy rains, saying it gets like that every year because the water runs down the hill and collects at the horse barn.

Erickson said the pigs on the property were healthy and wondered if they were consuming the carcasses of dead animals. Colburn said that was untrue and that he fed them pig/sow pellets, table scraps, whole corn and leftover vegetables. He said the only reason the dead animals were strewn about was because he could not bury them in the frozen ground.

“I can’t dig through two feet of snow and frozen ground,” he said.

Velardi suggested that Colburn’s life had spiraled out of control due to depression and alcohol abuse. Colburn has been seeing a psychiatrist since losing his animals.

“I guess I must have had it (depression),” Colburn said, adding he has enjoyed seeing a counselor. “It’s helped me immensely.”

Judge Susan Ashley deliberated for about 20 minutes before return guilty verdicts on all 11 counts of animal cruelty. She sentenced him to three consecutive suspended 12-month jail sentences. During that period of time, he is not allowed to own or take care of animals. She said she did not want to bar him from owning animals for the rest of his life since these changes are only misdemeanors.

“This is not because he meant to harm any of those animals but his amazing carelessness put them at risk,” Velardi said. “Whatever occurred, it turned this farm into a killing ground.” Colburn also must continue with counseling and must pay $8,995.16 to Cocheco Valley Humane Society and $23,195.25 to the SPCA.

He still has pending in Strafford county Superior Court a motion seeking the return of his animals because he questions the validity of the voluntary release forms he signed when the SPCA seized them. That is scheduled for a hearing on July 13 but may be rendered moot by the court’s verdict.

Update 3/17/11:  The owner of Pleasant Valley Farm in Middleton, who was found guilty on 11 counts of animal cruelty last year, was ordered to serve 30 days in jail for keeping a dog against a court order.

Albert Colburn, 71, of 98 Route 153, was barred from owning or caring for animals for three years as part of Judge Susan Ashley's ruling following his June 22, 2010 trial in Rochester District Court. Colburn was also issued three consecutive suspended 12-month jail sentences.

Strafford County Attorney Thomas Velardi said he filed a motion in late February to impose the first of those suspended sentences based on reports from residents who'd witnessed that Colburn, a former Farmington school teacher of 30 years, was keeping a dog in late January and early February.

Velardi said a Middleton police officer later observed the dog at Colburn's residence. Colburn told authorities the dog belonged to someone else, but that he was taking care of it, according to Velardi.

"Judge Ashley was very specific about the terms of the sentence," Velardi said. "I had asked at trial that he shouldn't have animals for the rest of his life, but the judge made her ruling."

Velardi said Ashley ruled to send Colburn to jail for 30 days instead of the full sentence because of his lack of a criminal history outside of the animal cruelty convictions.

Velardi expects Colburn to be on "good time" at Strafford County jail and will likely only serve 20 of the 30 days if he stays on good behavior.

Officials who visited the farm on March 23 and 24, 2010, described the harrowing scene of animal cruelty at the trial last year. Those officials, from former interim Middleton Fire Chief Lon Berry and Middleton police officer Dave Winship Jr., to veterinarians and a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, testified about deplorable conditions.

A variety of animals lived on the farm, including birds, pigs, llamas, dogs and horses. Officials testified they found animals in emaciated states with inadequate food and water. Winship said he found a deceased black lab in a cage that Colburn told him "had been there for a couple months."

Police and firefighters were called to Pleasant Valley Farm to assist with moving a horse that was stuck in the mud. Witnesses said the mud was actually a knee-deep mixture of mud and feces.

Colburn denied neglecting the animals at his trial.

The 11 counts alleged he deprived six German Shorthairs, four horses and one Jack Russell Terrier of necessary shelter, care, food and water.

Animals were rescued from the premises on two occasions. The first came after the March 24 call for assistance and involved Colburn's voluntary surrender of seven dogs and three horses. A second effort to remove animals took place April 2 and involved two llamas, two peacocks, two potbellied pigs, three piglets and five ducks, court documents said.

The second rescue occurred after a March 31 call to police about a pig in the road at Route 153. Police Chief Randy Sobel saw several pigs roaming the property but was unable to make contact with Colburn, court documents said.

Colburn had sought the return of his animals following his conviction but Velardi said those attempts were eventually dropped. Velardi said it was his understanding that Colburn had paid more than $30,000 in boarding costs to the Cocheco Valley Humane Society and the SPCA as part of his sentence.

Verlardi said Colburn's defense has filed a motion to allow him to have a service dog, but that matter will be taken up at a later date.

Update 4/23/11:  A Middleton man found guilty of 11 counts of animal cruelty last year was back in District Court again for a motion to allow him to obtain an emotional service dog.

Colburn appeared in court with his attorney, Erland McLetchie, seeking a motion which would allow him to obtain an emotional service dog after Sept. 1 — after he is scheduled to have hip replacement surgery.

McLetchie argued Colburn is only attempting to obtain only one animal, registered with the National Service Animal Registry, and that Colburn is eligible to do so under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Assistant County Attorney Kate Smykowski objected to the motion, stating "It's the state's belief he is trying anything to get an animal in his possession."

Smykowski argued, as a condition of Colburn's suspended sentences, he is not allowed to be in possession of an animal, and Colburn had violated the condition once already.

Judge Daniel Cappiello has taken the issue under advisement, and did not specify in court when a decision might be made.

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