News : Man pleads not guilty to animal cruelty charges : Sidney Herald, Sidney, Montana

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Man pleads not guilty to animal cruelty charges

Published on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 4:01 PM MST

The Fairview man charged with cruelty to animals has made the plea not guilty.

Barak McGhee, 23, Fairview, faces two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.

He was cited for the charges on Dec. 19 by Fairview police for allegedly killing two puppies by cutting their throats.

Fairview Police Chief Susan Quandt said she received a complaint about a man killing two puppies and putting them in a garbage can. When police arrived at the residence, they found the dead puppies.

Quandt said apparently the man’s female dog had a liter of eight puppies. He was able to find homes for six of the puppies but not two of them.

McGhee’s omnibus hearing is scheduled for March 5.

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Comments

The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of the Sidney Herald.

Hmmm wrote on Feb 13, 2010 3:28 PM:

" Rob, i would just like to point out the fact that essentially your talking about two different things.....Compairing the animals that have to be put down due to lack of a home, to livestock? i think you need to rethink your thinking...the two are not even remotely connected (and btw they feed your fat face aswell, so cheers mate).

Regardless, what happened was wrong, the man deserves what he has coming to him, Humane or not it was still wrong and you basically condoning what was done paints a pretty poor picture for his supporters. I personally hope he gets worse than what was coming if he would have just plead guilty. "

WOW wrote on Feb 9, 2010 3:44 PM:

" The point is that a person did such a inhumane act to a animal. It dont matter if it was his dog or not what is wrong with people "

Rob wrote on Feb 9, 2010 7:52 AM:

" Are you kidding me? The "hang 'em high" crowd would be funny if it weren't so sad. Do you folks even know how many strays are legally put down every day? And how about the hundreds of animals slaughtered to feed your fat faces?

For what it's worth, cutting the puppies throats is probabley one of the more painless way to put them down, better than knocking them in the head or dumping along the county road in the middle of winter.

If your truly so worried about it why don't wander down to the shelter and adopt a few of the strays slated for euthanasia? "

FS wrote on Feb 9, 2010 7:01 AM:

" I am very disappointed that the Herald is allowing these comments to continue. I do not condone what Barak did but in no way does this mean he is a monster! There are mitigating circomstances and he will have his day in court. For you hysterical people to compare a human life to a dogs is just plain indecent and slanderous! "

jk wrote on Feb 7, 2010 9:09 PM:

" What is wrong with you people. Whether or not the dog was his has NOTHING to do with what he's charged with. If the dogs got dumped on him, he still had NO RIGHT to do what he did, if the dog didn't get dumped on him... HE HAD NO RIGHT! So.. if someone dumped a baby on your doorstep. you'd slit their throats right? Come on!! "

T.Rex wrote on Feb 7, 2010 2:38 PM:

" No doubt!!Who cares if the dog was his or not?That is a lame comment.Throw the book at him.Unfortunately the punishment will be a slap on the wrist.Makes me sick. "

OMG wrote on Feb 7, 2010 10:16 AM:

" How does it matter if the dog was his or not!

It does not give you the right to abuse!

If he was left in charge...then he is responsible for the welfare of the animal. And if the owners didn't come back for it..Then he should of made other arrangements for the animal or contacted the police for abandonment charges on the owners.

People are always trying to come up with excuses for their behavior. Just once someone should stand up and say..Sorry...I screwed up. Ill take my punishment like a man....(or woman). "

Get The Facts wrote on Feb 6, 2010 9:38 PM:

" The dog wasn't his. He agreed to take care of it when its owner had a family emergency. It had puppies and the owner refused to collect the dog, pay him for the dog's care, or help find homes for the puppies. The owner abandoned and neglected the dogs-Barak never wanted to keep the dog. Of course, she's not listed in here for animal abandonment and neglect. He also lives in apartments where large dogs are not allowed. He also has two little girls, which don't mix well with large, hyper puppies. Yes, he handled it badly, and there were better alternatives, but he became desperate (no, he did not have the money for kenneling or even taking the puppies to the vet to put down. It all adds up, the REAL owner refused to take of it, and he has a family he's trying to care for. Of course, the paper is leaving out a lot of information, and it doesn't tell the whole story. There's a lot of holes that need to be filled in with this article. The real owner needs to step up and take responsibility for HER actions too. "

hmmm wrote on Feb 6, 2010 10:21 AM:

" pleads not guilty? thats disgusting...i could rant for a long time on this issue but instead i hope he has fun trying to fight it....the odds are stacked against him regardless of which way you look at it....gg mate "

Re-Correction wrote on Feb 5, 2010 8:56 PM:

" make sure you know what your talking about before trying to call me out.

I am very aware of the situation.

He was asked to dog-sit.

The owners did not take the dog back, and refused to.

He accepted to take care of the dog, not take ownership of it.

But I do agree there were better ways of handling the situation, I however feel this story has become skewed with public opinion however.

Perhaps there was no amount of alcohol involved to mention, or maybe it's the fact that we are just as accountable for our actions sober as drunk so it makes no bit of difference what-so-ever, only reason to mention it would be to diminish ones character further. "

Uh say what wrote on Feb 5, 2010 2:25 PM:

" "Correction", the dog was given to the man. He accepted it at the time as his own. Only now that he did this horrible thing is he claiming it was "dumped" on him.
Also, where is the alcohol retated part? That was left out of the whole thing, by the police and everyone else.
Guess it wasn't an important factor.
I am not saying the man couldn't dispose of the unwanted puppies, he just should have done it in a caring and humane way, rather than get drunk, get mad and slit thier throats.
Oh well, at least he didn't dump them on the side of the road for them to freeze or starve to death like many do. I guess that is more humane though. "

Correction wrote on Feb 4, 2010 7:27 PM:

" In the article it says 'the mans female dog'

the dog was not his, but was abandoned into his care. "

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