Breeder: Beach, Ronald
Address: 910 Poe Rd.
City, State Zip: Bucyrus, OH 44820
Year: 2005
USDA License: 31-A-0060
Date of CAPS Investigation: 2005-04-01
Wildlife Sanctuary: two bobcats, six foxes, one badger, ten raccoons, 15 miniature horses, 20 chickens and five peacocks
All of the animals were located on property behind the owner’s house. The main part of the facility was an area about 300 feet wide and 600 feet long, surrounded by a metal wire fence. There were five free-roaming peacocks inside, and about 20 chickens were in metal cages just inside and outside of the fence (3.133-Separation). The chicken cages were each about two feet wide, two feet long, and a foot high, each housing two to three adult chickens.
The northern end of the property, south of a creek, was fenced in with barbed wire and contained about a dozen miniature horses.
Bobcat enclosures
There were two enclosures in the facility each housing a bobcat. Each was a cylindrical cage made of thick, rusting wire with a dirty floor. The cages were about 15 feet in diameter and six feet high with a flat roof. Each contained a one-foot-wide wooden pole extending from the floor to the roof in the middle of the cage and a wooden box about five feet wide, five feet long, and four feet high. These boxes were accessible through doggie-doors about a foot wide and two feet high with plastic windbreaks. The boxes were made of untreated wood or had peeling paint on the outside surfaces (3.125(a)-Structural strength).
In one cage, a four-foot length of two-by-four lumber was leaning against the wooden pole. There were decaying deer limbs and bones on the floor of the enclosure (3.129(a)-Feeding) and several weeks’ accumulation of feces (3.131(a)-Sanitation).
There was a water dish on the floor of the cage that was filled with dark, dirty water. The dish was so covered in dirt that it was impossible to determine what material it was made of (3.130-Watering).
The second bobcat cage had untreated, thin-gauge wire surrounding the doggie-door with sharp points of the wire protruding out into the pen (3.125(a)-Structural strength).
There was a wooden plank leading up to the doggie-door, and a wooden board about three feet wide and four feet long leaning against a second wooden box about three feet wide, four feet long, and two feet high in the middle of the pen. There was an empty metal bowl on top of the box (3.129(b)-Feeding), and an empty metal dish was located about a foot above the ground on a wire wall. Three decaying deer carcasses were inside the cage (3.129(a)-Feeding).
Raccoon and fox cages
West of the bobcat cages, there were about eight cages made entirely of untreated, thin-gauge, rusting metal wire (3.125(a)-Structural strength).
Each cage was about two feet wide, five feet long, and two feet high. Half of them contained wooden boxes measuring about two feet wide, two feet long, and two feet high. There were no windbreaks on these boxes (3.127(b)-Shelter from inclement weather). Most of these cages housed a single adult fox; one cage had two adult foxes.
A solitary fox in one of these cages was repeatedly running circles around a pile of feces measuring about a foot wide and a foot high in the middle of its cage (3.128-Space requirements).
One of the two foxes in a single cage was running back and forth repeatedly across a wall of the cage while whimpering, then jumped up to stick its nose in a top corner of the cage (3.128-Space requirements).
The other cages had no protection from wind (3.127(b)-Shelter from inclement weather). They each housed a single adult raccoon.
Several cages had wooden boards on the floors, and rusting metal sheets partially covered the cage tops (3.125(a)-Structural strength). Each cage had what appeared to be more than two months’ accumulation of feces in and under the floors (3.131(a)-Sanitation). There were metal food and water dishes in the cages, many of which had algae covering the inner surfaces, and all of the food containers were empty (3.130-Watering) (3.129(a)(b)-Feeding).
Most of the cages were raised about a foot above the ground on wooden beams and cinder blocks. One cage was about a foot above the ground on a base of rusting metal beams (3.125(a)-Structural strength).
Badger cage
Northwest of the bobcat cages and east of the raccoon and fox cages was a metal cage that housed what appeared to be an adult badger. The cage was about four feet wide, eight feet long, and four feet high and was raised about eight inches off the ground on wooden beams. It was made entirely of untreated, rusting, thick-gauge wire (3.125(a)-Structural strength).
There was a wooden plank about four feet long lying of the floor of the cage and a metal sheet, about four feet wide and two feet high, covered in rust at the bottom of one of the walls of the cage (3.125(a)-Structural strength). The badger was lying in a hollowed-out wooden log, about two feet wide and four feet long. There were no windbreaks on the log (3.127(b)-Shelter from inclement weather). The log was not large enough for the badger to turn around (3.128-Space requirements).
There was no food, food dish, or water dish visible in the cage (3.129(a)-Feeding); (3.130 Watering).
Another fox cage
West of the badger cage and north of the fox and raccoon cages was a cage about four feet wide, six feet long, and four feet high that housed a single adult fox. The cage was made of untreated, thin-gauge, rusting wire (3.125(a)-Structural strength).
Straw covered about one-fifth of the wire flooring. There was also a three-foot-long wooden plank, what appeared to be a one-foot-diameter piece of carpeting, and a sheet of wax paper on the cage floor. There was a ceramic water and food dish on the wire floor of the cage that was not placed in a manner that would minimize contamination. (3.129(b)-Feeding).
Several sheets of metal and wood, as well as a plastic bucket, an algae-covered piece of wood, and a metal cat trap were on top of the fox cage. There was no apparent protection from wind (3.127(b)-Shelter from inclement weather). Several weeks’ accumulation of feces was below the pen (3.131(a)-Sanitation).
Another raccoon cage
South of the fox cage was a cage about five feet wide, eight feet long, and five feet high. It was off the ground on wooden beams that rested on cinder blocks. It housed a single adult raccoon.
The cage was made of rusting, thick-gauge wire (3.125(a)-Structural strength). A black tarp covered an area of the flooring measuring three feet by eight feet. There were two wooden logs and a metal water dish on the flooring. No food or food containers were visible in the cage (3.129(a)-Feeding).
A wooden platform, two feet wide and two feet long was built two feet above the cage floor on one of the cage walls. It was constructed of several planks that were covered in algae (3.125(a)-Structural strength).
A wooden box was next to the platform. It was suspended on wooden beams. The box was a foot wide, two feet long, and a foot high with a doggie-door to provide access and a blue tarp for cover. Paint was peeling from the sides of the box (3.125(a)-Structural strength).
Several weeks’ accumulation of feces was underneath the wooden rest and under the cage itself (3.131(a)-Sanitation).
