Nov. 20--A Will County woman filed a lawsuit this week against Cook County Animal Control, claiming that officers seized 19 heads of cattle from her Chicago Heights property without due process, and that the animal rescue organization in charge of taking care of the seized cattle misrepresented the animals' condition in order to make a profit.
In addition to Animal Control, Charlene Briggs, of Steger, is suing the Cook County Sheriff's Office and the nonprofit Illinois Horse Rescue of Will County, along with several of each entity's officers and employees, including Donna Alexander, head of Animal Control.
Briggs is an elderly woman, according to her attorney, John Krupa. She inherited the cattle from her husband when he died a couple of years ago, Krupa said, and she manages the cattle with her son, Robert Briggs.
According to documents filed with the lawsuit, officials from the sheriff's office and Animal Control on May 11 came to Charlene Briggs' property in the 1400 block of East Indiana Avenue and seized cattle after declaring they found moldy hay, more than one dead cow in a water source and 19 cattle that appeared in poor condition. Those officials were acting on a tip from Illinois Horse Rescue President Anthony Pecho, documents show.
The lawsuit also alleges that the rescue group and Pecho made "false and/or misleading statements" to local media last month about the state of Briggs' cattle and made similar comments in social media posts.
The lawsuit claims that sheriff's deputies and the Animal Control officers they called to the property could not have seen the cattle without trespassing on Briggs' property.
In the suit, Briggs claims that the officers who declared the cattle "emaciated" were not in a position to make such a judgment. The only licensed investigator to look at the cattle found that the majority of the cattle "were only slightly malnourished" and two could be considered malnourished, the suit says.
The suit claims that while the cattle had received 16 500-pound bales of hay during a 10-day period just before they were seized, the cattle were mistreated by the nonprofit. Some cattle were injured after Illinois Horse Rescue transferred them in a six-horse trailer, two calves were unnecessarily aborted and the cattle were dewormed without Briggs' consent, according to the suit.
The lawsuit further contends that Animal Control did not provide the notice required under state law before seizing the cattle or give Briggs time to deal with any alleged problems with the cattle.
In a statement, the sheriff's office said, "The animals were removed from the plaintiff's property on the express directive of the county veterinarian, Dr. (Donna) Alexander. As such, the Sheriff's Office has no liability and the lawsuit is without merit."
Animal Control said it does not comment on pending litigation, and Illinois Horse Rescue had not replied to a request for comment by Wednesday evening.
mmrodriguez@tribune.com
