PETA president says animal cruelty charges won't stick

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06:07 PM EDT on Friday, June 17, 2005

By 13News & Associated Press

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) --Dumping the bodies of dead dogs and cats in the garbage is wrong, but the president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Friday that animal cruelty charges against two employees won't stick.

"It's hideous," Ingrid Newkirk, president of the animal rights group, said of the dumping. "I think this is so shocking it's bound to hurt our work."

Ahoskie Police photos

Andrew Cook and Adria Hinkle

Police in Ahoskie on Thursday filed 31 counts of animal cruelty, eight counts of illegally disposing of dead animals, and trespassing charges against Andrew Cook, 24, of Va. Beach and Adria Hinkle, 27, of Norfolk.

The two were in a North Carolina court Friday accused of throwing dead dogs into a garbage dumpster at a shopping center.

Authorities in Ahoskie also told 13News they will reopen an investigation into a similar occurrence from two years ago.

From PETA headquarters in Norfolk Friday, Newkirk said that the dogs and cats did not suffer in their deaths, so there was no cruelty.

She did say that PETA's policy is to euthanize animals here and then cremate them, not throw away the bodies. So, an investigation has been launched into the actions of the two employees.

Ahoskie police arrested the pair Wednesday night as they disposed of some bags into a dumpster. Police said the bags contained the bodies of 18 dogs; 13 other animals were found dead in a white panel van that’s registered to PETA.

Authorities said the animals were alive with the pair picked them up from animal shelters in Northampton and Bertie counties. The two were picking up animals to be brought back to PETA headquarters for euthanization, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said Thursday.

Police have said that Cook and Hinkle said the dogs would be found good homes.

The arrests came after a month-long investigation where as many as 80 dead animals have been found in dumpsters on four consecutive Wednesday nights. Ahoskie Police Chief Troy Fitzhugh said, "It just gets to you after awhile."

A veterinarian told 13News that one of the animals he examined had been healthy and he couldn’t understand why it was killed.

Hinkle has been suspended from her job until the investigation is over. Cook remains on the job, according to PETA.

Today's hearing set a July 19 court date for Hinkle and Cook. They remain free on $35,000 bond. Each felony charge carries a maximum of 15 months in jail and the maximum term for each misdemeanor is 60 days.

After court, a tearful Hinkle said, "I'm devastated. And all I wanted to do is help the animals in the community. I'm devastated."

Her attorney, Larry Overton, added, "I think she's devastated about the way the situation apparently was handled and obviously about being charged with these crimes and the potential consequences to her."

13News

Adria Hinkle said she's devastated about being charged with animal cruelty.

Newkirk said the workers were picking up animals to be brought to PETA headquarters in Norfolk for euthanization.

Veterinarians and animal control officers said the PETA workers had promised to find homes for the animals rather than euthanize them, according to police.

"PETA has never made a secret of the fact that most of the animals picked up in North Carolina are euthanized," Newkirk said.

Neither police nor PETA offered any theory on why the animals might have been dumped. Newkirk said no one from PETA noticed that over several weeks Hinkle was returning from her weekly trips to North Carolina without animals to be euthanized.

PETA spokeswoman Colleen O'Brien said the organization euthanizes animals by lethal injection, which it considers more humane than shooting or gassing them in groups, as some counties do.

Hinkle has been with PETA for two years in its community animal project division.

Newkirk said PETA also runs a program in the three North Carolina counties to sterilize animals, and has encouraged them to set up programs for animal adoptions.

PETA has euthanized animals for years. In Virginia last year, the activist group euthanized 2,278 animals, sterilized 7,641 and found homes for 361.