Animals are not people (although as I write this, our Dalmatian is lounging on the sofa, apparently engrossed in a golf tournament). But does this distinction mean that animals cannot be victims in a prosecution for animal neglect?

Two years ago, the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon executed a search warrant in response to an animal abuse/neglect complaint. Deputies seized 69 animals, including 43 goats, 24 horses, and two Border Collies. The animals’ owner, Arnold Weldon Nix, was arrested on 23 counts of animal abuse and neglect. Many of the animals were in terrible condition and a number of horse and goat carcasses were discovered on Nix’s property. As a result of the investigation, the prosecutor eventually charged Nix with 93 separate counts of animal neglect