The Kittitas County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has charged two men with two counts each of second-degree animal cruelty in connection with the death of four horses last spring.

Court documents state that the horses died from malnutrition and exposure at 2511 Upper Green Canyon Road, which is the Green Canyon Ranch.

Charged in the case are Mark Swanberg of Tacoma and Jeff Hoff of Seattle.  Both have entered pleas of not guilty, and both are represented by their uncle, Neil J. Hoff, who owns the 51-acre ranch.

This is a very unfair charge that has been made, Neil Hoff said. The story goes back to March 22, when veterinarian Larry Whitlatch of Ellensburg Animal Hospital called the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office about a visit he made to the ranch the day before. The vet reported that four horses had died from hypothermia brought about by malnutrition.

That day, Kittitas County Sheriff's Office deputy Frank Smith met with Swanberg, his sister Lauren Swanberg, and Ellensburg resident Anna Longanecker. The deputy, according to court documents and his case report, states he found four horses dead and nine horses still living. The horses, the papers say, appeared malnourished and in stages of starvation.

The animals were contained in outside pens standing in approximately one-foot deep mud, snow and water without access to a weather break. One horse was confined to a pen with access to a barn, Smith wrote in his report.

He said the horses did have access to water and hay but didn't appear to be eating the hay.

Anna Longanecker had been employed on a part-time basis to care for the horses. She told Smith that Jeff Hoff and Mark Swanberg were responsible for feeding the animals and would call her to do the chore when they couldn't.  She said the last time she fed the horses was March 14.

She told Smith that she had attempted to inform the horse owners about the poor quality of the feed. Longanecker came to the ranch on March 21, discovered the dead horses and called Whitlatch.

However, Neil Hoff, in a telephone interview Tuesday, said Longanecker was hired to feed the horses on a daily basis, not just when called. He said he plans to submit evidence next week that will prove his nephews innocent.  Mark Swanberg, he said, has records from the feed store to show that grain and hay was available at the ranch and said that Longanecker was to be paid $15 a day to take care of the horses.

Neil Hoff said his family has raised horses at the Green Canyon Ranch for 40 years without trouble. He added that neighbors, in the past, have fattened cattle at the ranch, too. It has a record of good care for animals. He said the main trouble this year was caused by a severe snowstorm a few days before Longanecker found the dead horses.

He said Longanecker panicked in March and blamed Jeff Hoff and Mark Swanberg by telling Smith incorrect terms of the feeding agreement.

Longanecker, in a telephone interview Tuesday, said she began getting $15 a day only after the dead horses were found. Before the deaths, she was called randomly to feed the horses and said she feels too many people connected to the ranch were supposed to be feeding the horses, leaving room for assumption and poor communication, she said.

Longanecker said the ranch was feeding the horses only grass hay that had been left in the field too long before baling. The horses were trying to eat the fence post, they were so desperate.

She grew up on a ranch near Ellensburg and has been around horses her entire life. She said she advised the Hoff's and Swanberg's about need for better feed and said she was feeding the horses up until the day before her son was born.

She said she has no bone to pick with the family and thinks Mark Swanberg shouldn't be blamed, noting that he made a great effort to solve the problem even though he didn't own any of the horses.

Lauren Swanberg told Smith that no single person was responsible for feeding the horses and, whenever someone was at the ranch, the animals would be fed.

She had not been to the property since November 2001 and assumed the animals were being cared for properly, Smith wrote in his report. Lauren appeared to be appalled at the animals condition and was crying most of the time.

According to court documents, Mark Swanberg told Smith that he had fed the animals two weeks prior.

On March 23, Jeff Hoff met with Smith and told him that he was last on the ranch March 17. He, too, said whoever was at the ranch fed the animals and they had Longanecker feed them otherwise.

Referring to Smith's report, the court file states: "When asked if he was aware of the horses' poor condition, Hoff stated that he did not think they were in as bad of a condition as indicated. When asked if it was normal for the horses to have all their ribs extended and shrunken abdomens, he again said he did not think they were that bad."

Jeff Hoff, a Burien physician, this morning said he, of course, thought the dead horses did look terrible. He said the live horses did not look so bad for that time of year. At that time, Hoff was concerned that something had poisoned the horses, and he said the deputy didn't take much time to hear his concerns.

"The allegations are totally false and unmerited," he said.

Hoff said Longanecker had an open account in town to buy grain or hay and was supposed to feed the animals Monday through Thursday.

In later investigation, Smith discovered that the Hoff's and Swanberg's had been told 'several' times prior that the horses needed to be fed on a daily basis and that the horses needed better care. The court file also adds that Whitlatch advised Hoff in December 2001 that the horses needed better feed and care.

Neil Hoff said his nephews have a strong case, also noting that Mark Swanberg didn't own any of the horses. He said they weren't the only family in the area to lose horses in that March snowstorm and added that two of the dead horses had already reached the old age of 30.

"We'll have records to show this was a well-run ranch," he said.

Reference:

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