What is the world coming to?

Ohio woman, 75, accused of beating fawn to death

July 8, 2009


EUCLID, Ohio—An Ohio woman who found a fawn in her flower garden has been accused of beating it to death with a shovel. Dorothy Richardson, 75, was charged in a warrant with animal cruelty at her Euclid home near the Cleveland Metroparks Euclid Creek Reservation, a wooded park where deer, foxes and other wildlife roam.




Animal control officer Ann Mills requested the warrant. She said "everybody's very upset" about the fawn's June 15 death.

Richardson hasn't appeared in court. She told Cleveland's WKYC-TV she was afraid of the fawn and used a shovel to try to make it move. She said after it died she put it in a box and took it to the curb on trash day.

Euclid's cruelty to animals charge is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

OMG!!!

This woman is a MENACE!!!

What was she thinking?

That the poor little fawn was gong to ATTACK her?? Give her rabies??

No-she was pi$$ed it was having her flowers for breakfast!!!

I hope she gets the full sentence!!

Poor little critter!!

What are Ohio's laws about nuisance animals?

A shovel probably isn't the method I'd go for first but if an animal is destroying my property- I'd probably take issue too and if it was resistant to being scared off or physically removed- probably (provided it was legal, which in many areas it is once the animal destroys property) also come to the terminal conclusion.

It should probably be said that I don't particularly *like* deer though. Having lived for as long as I had in the state of Taxachusetts, where the bleeding heart types would protest and block any attempts to free up more hunting licenses, with the deer living in the eastern half of the state in areas which are much much too small to support sustained and unchecked populations- they became a nuisance species. Eating from suburban gardens, constantly being hit by cars, all half-starved and prone to carrying diseases due to overpopulation and proximity issues... I doubt Ohio is quite as bad but I suspect that many of the same problems are present, if not to the same degree.

If this deer was eating her garden, full of vegetables or flowers that she has paid for and worked on- why should the deer's behaviors take priority? Deer certainly aren't endangered, so it's not as if this is a crippling blow to the population. Deer proof/resistant fencing probably should have been used in a deer prone area but even so- why can't this woman protect her property? Is it because it's a cute widdle bambi instead of a filth covered one eyed snarling raccoon that did the damage?

I doubt I'd use the word "MENACE!!!" either. The story didn't say that she went on a bloody rampage, completely destroying the local deer population before she turned on the neighborhood children in her furious orgy of death. She smacked one deer that was eating her property with one shovel.

When fawns are scared or feel threathened their natural instinct is to stay as still as possible, of course she couldn't 'scare it away', the poor thing was already scared which is why it sat there and let itself be beaten to death.

There are other measures that can be taken to get deer to stop eatting your flowers and veggies, imo it does not justify killing the deer. Why couldn't this lady just have called animal control to remove and relocate it? insane.

Leave the poor old lady alone. The only thing she did wrong was waste the meat.

Animal control doesn't show up when you are being attacked regularly by your neighbors dog, how high up the priority list is a deer going to be? They're busy trying to break up dog fighting rings w/o the proper staffing & funding to be worried about a deer in some old ladies yard.

If they did by some miracle show up, nuisance animals are just put down anyway. So she saved time & funding that is better used on stopping the idiots breeding dogs solely to destroy them after a short life of pain torment & misery.

The deer here are way over populated & a nuisance. Completely aside from the fact that they are food, they completely decimate people's yards and gardens and there is no repellent that actually works on them because the tick covered lyme disease carrying things are starving due to unchecked over population.
Either the herds need seriously culled or wolves need brought back.

I vote for the reintroduction of wolves. That would also help with the coyote problem we've been having.

Originally Posted by Twizted Paths

I vote for the reintroduction of wolves. That would also help with the coyote problem we've been having.

Actually I believe the coyote was introduced in hopes of thinning the deer population. All it accomplished was the thinning of the small cat and dog population.

Now back to the shovel wielding granny. Stop and picture a 75 year old woman you know. Now picture how many times it would take for her to beat little Bambi to death. Damn shame to waste that tenderized meat though.

I doubt it took much beating to kill a fawn with a shovel. But really... it's a deer. She whacked it. I guess she should have gone inside and gotten a gun and shot it. She could have used the shovel to bury it, instead of putting it out for the garbage.

Actually.. if she had shot it, she'd get charged with hunting undersized deer, hunting out of season(I think), and hunting without a license.

Originally Posted by Wolfy-hound

Actually.. if she had shot it, she'd get charged with hunting undersized deer, hunting out of season(I think), and hunting without a license.

Don't forget discharging a firearm within city limits.

Originally Posted by DAND

Now back to the shovel wielding granny. Stop and picture a 75 year old woman you know. Now picture how many times it would take for her to beat little Bambi to death. Damn shame to waste that tenderized meat though.

You've obviously never encountered any of the women in my family

Originally Posted by Twizted Paths

Animal control doesn't show up when you are being attacked regularly by your neighbors dog, how high up the priority list is a deer going to be?

true, but by the time she got in, made the call and waited the fawn probably would have made it's way out of her garden.

Originally Posted by Twizted Paths

The deer here are way over populated & a nuisance. Completely aside from the fact that they are food,

I just don't see how any of that justifies animal cruelty? Maybe she hit it with one quick blow and okay, at least that would be humane. Maybe it was just the wording but "beating to death" does not sound like a good way to go for any animals (pig, cow, deer, cat, human, snake, etc).

And yes, I do agree, they need to be thinned out, it's always a shame when man comes along and upsets the natural balance (almost wiping out the wolves which prey on the deer in this case).