Merchant Gives Out Pet Food to Fulfill Sentence
To carry out the terms of a sentence for cruelty to animals, an Agoura Hills feed-store owner Saturday provided more than $450 worth of free pet food to persons adopting dogs and cats from an Agoura Hills animal center.
James Macklin, 44, owner of Macklin Hay & Grain, had pleaded no contest Friday to five charges of violating city regulations regarding the care, feeding and housing of animals.
Calabasas Municipal Court Commissioner Richard L. Brand ordered Macklin to provide free animal feed to every person who adopted a stray animal during an open house Saturday of the Agoura Hills center, operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control.
Sgt. Gail Miley of the animal-care center said 16 dogs and 39 cats were adopted, and Macklin gave out a bag of food for each one. Also adopted was a parrot-like tropical bird, but there was no bird feed for the new owners, she said.
Macklin said he gave away 25-pound bags of feed worth $8.50 each.
He was charged after an investigator from Animal Care and Control reported finding at Macklin’s store six dead geese, a dead pheasant and two calves that had been improperly castrated. One of the calves later died from loss of blood.
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