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Iowa man faces neglect charges after pigs dieDES MOINES, Iowa (AP)--A northwest Iowa man accused of letting about 350 pigs starve and freeze to death, then leaving the carcasses to decompose in a hog barn for about four months made an initial appearance in court on July 8. Todd Steenhoven, of George, is charged with one count each of livestock neglect and failure to dispose of the carcasses. If convicted, he faces up to one year in jail and up to a $1,500 fine on the animal neglect charge, according to the Lyon County attorney's office. Sheriff Blythe Bloemendaal said Brad Witt, of Rock Rapids, owned the pigs and had hired 34-year-old Steenhoven to care for them at a building Steenhoven rented south of Edna. Witt discovered the dead pigs in late May. "These pigs probably laid there for four months," Bloemendaal said, estimating that the animals died in late December. While the sheriff has seen animal neglect cases before, he said he has never heard of a contract feeder just walk away from a herd. "It makes no sense when you are a contract feeder," he said. "You want to do your best to keep them alive." Bloemendaal said there was feed outside in a bulk bin that could have been funneled into the building through an automatic auger system. "There was food there if somebody just turned it on and fed them," he said. A telephone number listed for a Todd Steenhoven in George was disconnected. There wasn't an immediate response to a telephone message left for Witt. County attorney Carl Petersen said that if convicted, Steenhoven could also be ordered to pay restitution. Petersen added that state law allows him to file only one serious misdemeanor animal neglect charge for the herd of pigs, not individual charges for each animal found at the site. He added that "it was somewhat difficult to determine which (pigs) may have been ill and which may have been starved to death." Petersen expected Steenhoven's arraignment to be scheduled for sometime before the end of July. 7/21/08 Date: 7/16/08 Advertisement
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