75 Year-Old Ohio Woman Accused of Beating Fawn to Death

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.

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Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

Comments

[Pero]

Maybe she was a guard in one of concentration camps

[wxman]

A fine representation of our species. we are the most selfish horrible experiment evolution ever hatched and we are about evolve right back out if we don't flip the biz as usual with anthropogenic global warming - but I doubt it because we suck so bad we incapable of actually doing the right thing - dysfunctional on the way down.

I have zero faith and this is a great representation of our larger example

[2626Jump]

Maybe you should jump?

[Mikey5099]

I'm going to agree with you here. As a species, we are a cancer on the earth.

[slaxx]

chill out. how many times have people saved animals?

[Mikey5099]

Give me a break. Saved animals from whom? Ourselves?

[dramamama1]

Yep, we're the next layer of fossil fuel.

[csmcmillion]

This would have been fine if she had eaten it.

[rabiddog6708]

As long as it was hunting season.

[Happylib]

Cruelty is NEVER FINE you sick people!!!!

[BrainDart]

Me thinks the hunting season comment was sarcasm.

[NedroidPrime]

Killing for food is cruelty?

Lemme guess, militant vegan?

Is there anything you aren't offended by? Stop persecuting us meat-eaters!

[HelloooCanada]

w.... t.... f?

max sentence.
wish it could be longer.

[Fever911]

How can a person live to be 75 and not have any empathy for a helpless baby creature? This is an admitted act of cruelty. Her actions also show an appalling ignorance of the natural world. The fawn would have remained motionless until the mother deer returned. And a fawn this small was probably still nursing. It would not have been eating her flowers, just lying in them for safety.

[2626Jump]

Safety?

Man,
Here I have been using air bags and seat belts.

[DubyaGump]

M o ron

[Happylib]

You are such a heartless jerk

[madron]

S.T.F.U.

[Vickster]

Most fawns are born in March and April so this particular fawn was probably no younger than three months. At three months, fawns are no longer hiding while their mother grazes. They are grazing next to her, as well as taking the occassional sip of milk from her udder. The fact that this fawn was just lying next to a house suggest it may have been sick, perhaps even rabid.

[alainv]

What a wicked old witch ! I hope she spends a lot of time in prison .

[springsm]

well Hello OHIO!!!! Just this weekend I was up on a mtn and saw a mother deer with her very young fawn head across the snow field to the bit of grass and bush that were abit away. It was a very precious moment. How an older woman could do that is hard to fathom. my gawd.

[fcsakes]

The mind is spinning, spinning - is it something in the air? What the hell is wrong with people?

[blueeyedbull]

Ladidadi, tell me, what they did to Michael Vick? It could not have been worse then what he did to the dogs. I have no sympathy for animal abusers. Until harsher punishment is handed down animal cruelty will not stop.

I could go on about the abuse of children and the elderly, but this is a story about an animal, so I will stick on topic.

[nah415]

I don't see anything in this story about a psychiatric evaluation for this woman. This is not common behavior for an adult and there is nothing about a fawn that is scary. This woman needs help and she needs it sooner rather than later. At this age, she is at high risk for dementia and there are type of dementia that manifest in strange behaviors rather than memory problems.

[tilted windmill]

That's exactly what I'm thinking. My dad's dementia presented as fear and anger in situations that were out of the ordinary. Maybe she couldn't quite process exactly what a fawn is. Without understanding, she took it as a threat.

This story is very sad all the way around.

[brainpower]

I had the same thought. If she truly was afraid of the fawn- which is odd in the extreme- she could have kept her distance and thrown things at it to make it leave. To get in close and beat it with a shovel suggests an overreaction that is not rational.

[springsm]

Dementia?? She was in her garden, KNEW to pick up a shovel and beat the fawn to death. She knew what she was doing. and of course, you are right...dementia brings all sorts of stuff out of person. Hate, selfish behavior, confusion, etc. But KILL? I don't think so. She might have thought it was a snake, maybe...probably her defense.

[blueeyedbull]

Nah415, thanks for that perspective.

[Feanor]

Well, considering our broken health care system, it's unlikely that she will receive the care she needs. We do have a robust 'criminal justice' system though...

[lgreene]

Get this lady a psychiatric or neurologic evaluation, TODAY! She clearly had to have had an incredible amount of rage to garner the physical strength to kill a fawn. It sounds like she may have Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia that causes her to have episodes of psychosis and aggressive behavior.

[getalong]

Wait.
The fawn was in her garden messing it up?

How is the woman at fault?
She was just protecting her property.

[discourse jockey]

You should accompany her to the mental institution.

[HekmabaJuzimax]

What she did was cruel, because that fawn could have fed up to 15 kids and 9 adults, or just me.

[Vickster]

Mmm... venison.

I still have thirty or forty pounds from last fall's hunt in my freezer.

[dramamama1]

Maybe you can start teaching deers to read "no trespassing" signs. What a maroon!

[getalong]

So if a bear invades my home I can't shoot it because it doesn't know how to read?

She's a person defending her property against an animal.

What's next?
Will you guys start giving fines out to people who swat flies?

[wndrwrthg]

By nature a fawn will remain where it's mother places it even in the face of danger. There is no way this gentle creature would have harmed her. If people do not want nature to be part of their lives they need to move to the big city and surround themselves with concrete and asphalt . The animals were there first, stop trying to bend nature to your idiotic standards.

[Ladidadi]

Well considering the outcry by all the idiots over Mike Vick, she should be jailed, sued and have all of her money taken. She should become immediately denied Social Security and Medicaid and her home should be auctioned off. She should NEVER be allowed to work and should have cameras follow her around and websites devoted to her failure to live after this. OH I forgot to mention she she have to watch a ridiculous reality show about how we dug up the dang thing, brought it back to life and rehabilitated it to be loving pet. Then I'll call it even.

[VoodooAcrobat]

I'm not promoting the beating of animals, but I wonder if the uproar would be the same if it were a opossum, racoon, skunk, or something less "cute".

It's very sad that a lot of people have posted comments about how this woman should be beaten to death with a shovel. Very sad, indeed.