Dwight Bennett, Owner Of Northern California Horse Ranch, Arrested For Animal Cruelty (GRAPHIC VIDEO)

A Northern California man was arrested this week for what some members of a local animal rescue group have described as the "worst cases of animal cruelty they've witnessed." According to CBS Sacramento, Dwight Bennett, the owner of Whispering Pines Ranch in Lassen County, was charged with 30 counts of animal cruelty.

Authorities searched his 54-acre ranch this week and found the remains of 28 horses and and two dogs. The Sacramento Bee reports that police also seized five firearms and "a small amount" of methamphetamine and marijuana.

Over the past several months, The Grace Foundation, an equine rescue and rehabilitation ranch near Sacramento, has rescued 56 horses from the Whispering Pines Ranch. Adding to an already slow and difficult recovery process, rescuers discovered that 18 of the horses are pregnant.

Sadly, "there aren't enough people with the means and interest" to take care of the horses, reported CBS Sacramento. The Grace Foundation founder Beth DeCaprio said, "We're just desperately asking the community to step up and help us in any way they can."

In September, a Colorado woman learned about 60 horses bound for slaughter in Mexico and raised the money to save them. Horse lovers from around the world donated $24,000 in five days to save the horses.

Another organization, Red Bucket Equine Rescue, was created after a couple discovered a graveyard of skeletons and 50 starving abandoned horses, eating each other's tails trying to survive.

For more information about how you can help the surviving Whispering Pines horses, visit The Grace Foundation's website.

WATCH (GRAPHIC VIDEO):

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Comments

[papaecho]

11:48 PM on 11/16/2011

Ref: Dwight Bennett, Whispering Pines Ranch.
Mr. Bennett has a non-jury trial starting Friday, Nov. 18. Please, please don't let this pass without outside scrutiny. As long as his egregious abuse of animals was the secret of Lassen County, no action was taken. As long as his trial and sentencing are the secret of Lassen County, he will get nothing but a slap on the hand. Please don't let this happen.

[Airspace1]

07:36 PM on 11/02/2011

The very first part of the video had so much music and ground noise it was nearly Imposible to hear the message. Please leave out the music..Thanks for what ya have done..

[Pema]

07:57 PM on 10/31/2011

every year 3 million animals in this country are abused. 300k die from that abuse. things are getting worse. with the economy frustrations rise and the most horrific crimes are dealt upon our animals. they cannot beg for help YOU and ME is all there is in this conversation. if i dont convince you to help and your already an emphatic soul for reading this what chance do i have of getting someone else to help? go to facebook. go to the patrick miracle. post there. ask to get involved. or find me, dana lee i have a big eye for my avatar there. i get you connected to any type of activism that fits your sch and what your interested in. or you can follow me on twitter and send me a message via there.

[MDHutchinson]

12:46 PM on 10/31/2011

I have a personal connection to this story, not only because I edited the video, but because my mom is Beth DeCaprio, the woman in the video who runs the non-profit Grace Foundation.

The outpouring of support for these horses and the foundation has been truly amazing, and I urge anyone moved by their plight to visit the Grace Foundation website or Facebook page and learn more about what this non-profit does for animals, at-risk youth and children with special needs (I don't think I can post a link, but a google search for The Grace Foundation will get you there.)

Right now, the conservative estimate of how much it will cost to care for these horses is $150,000, and The Grace Foundation is hoping for donations of $7 or more in support of the "Susanville 70".

If you're like me and are already struggling in these incredibly difficult economic times, you can help (potentially even more) by spreading the word through Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else you can think of. One tweet from an animal lover like @WilliamShatner to his 800,000+ followers could do more for the #Susanville70 and the @GraceFoundation than you know.

Thank you all so much for this unexpected show of support. Without it, the Grace Foundation wouldn't exist and these horses may have never been given a second chance to show how truly amazing they are.

[claroscureaux]

12:30 PM on 10/31/2011

Idiots. If you don't have the means or interest to properly care for the animals, find something else to do with your time. Marijuana and meth should have been hobby enough for them. He ought to have been shot on sight and charged/tried after. There's no way to defend the slow starvation of animals except as heinous abuse.

[Politidelic]

12:22 PM on 10/31/2011

Stories like this make me sick to my stomach. So wrong...

[Master-T]

11:24 AM on 10/31/2011

Given the lax and usually non-existent animal rights laws in this country, I predict this man will get at best a fine, and an order to not own horses again. Essentially, he'll get a nice finger-wagging from the judge saying "you've been a naughty boy do don't do it again!". And if he does it again, it will be the same result. A fine and a verbal warning.

Yet we have people in jail for multi-year sentences for having a bag of marijuana. This is the insanity of the US legal system. You can abuse animals to the most horrific extent and not only not go to jail, but be given a meager fine equivalent to some parking tickets. Read again: Smoke a natural herb, you go to jail. Abuse animals, walk free to do it again. I've seen this again and again.

The laws regarding the treatment of animals MUST change. We are not civilized until we address the ongoing barbarism that our country's economic and legal system enable.

[Rae48]

02:42 AM on 10/31/2011

Shame, shame on that awful man who abused those beautiful animals. Bless those who go out of their way to save them.

[Mark Brawner]

02:33 AM on 10/31/2011

if the rancher cant raise them, right. and he cant find folks to take them, he needs to put them down and not suffer. this being last resort of course, if the option is to let them starve to death or put them down humanely, you must do the more humane thing. I wont watch the video, I used to raise and train horses and this would violently upset me so... yes, as a rancher you must do the best thing for the animals.

[Loretta Reno]

02:33 AM on 10/31/2011

I had a dog,she has a family member.Her name was PEPPER.She was a very friendly and happy dog.She live until she was 17 years old.Now she is in dog heaven

[paulhomsy]

02:26 AM on 10/31/2011

The bird in the video is NOT a seagull. It's a swan...................

[Rae48]

02:43 AM on 10/31/2011

You noticed that too, huh?

[debbiekay024]

03:38 AM on 10/31/2011

Thank you! I was about to say the same. Hard to mistake that, I would think. I just hate to see or hear about abused animals. Sorry Loretta about your Pepper, I had a Pepper too! Had her trained to get on her hind legs when I sang " I'ma pepper, ura pepper, he's a pepper, she's a pepper, wouldn't ya like to be a pepper too?

[JBT3618]

12:58 AM on 10/31/2011

I know that abortions should be banned. But this story is about abused animals and nothing else. Go to another site if you don't like it.

[gearnhart]

12:47 AM on 10/31/2011

is anyone else crying after watching this video?

[jlshawaz]

11:55 PM on 10/30/2011

The argument isn't about whether or not humans love animals. There is no argument. There does need to be constructive discussions as to the humane treatment of animals and what should be done to those who knowingly and willingly violate humane treatment....personally, I advocate putting the ranch owner out of his misery - permanently. As to who "donates" money etc to "save" animals - that choice should be personal and definitely NOT be used as a litmus test as to what is or is not humane.

[JBT3618]

12:20 AM on 10/31/2011

jlshawaz, I agree. The SOB should be starved and abused until he is dead.

[Billybladerunner]

11:42 PM on 10/30/2011

Wow ! that was terrible , I wounder if pro choicers would react the same way to a video showing the same horible images, some abortions are performed late into the pregnancy ...


Just saying...

[JBT3618]

01:00 AM on 10/31/2011

Billybladerunner, there are ways to prevent pregancies then there would be no need for abortions. Just saying

[Politidelic]

12:23 PM on 10/31/2011

Some people's minds just can't get off one topic. You all are like a broken record.....

[Billybladerunner]

02:02 PM on 10/31/2011

Wow ...Liberals go to great lengths to save the animals ..save the wales ,..save the Planet ...

http://www.aoltv.com/2011/10/30/tina-fey-covered-in-paint-30-rock/?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl2%7Csec3_lnk2%7C108844

I make one comment and your tired of hearing it ? Ad least i'm defending life...not destroying it ....picking and choosing who or what lives or dies ... To me all life is sacred even animals