LAKE BUTLER, Fla. — (The video above is from a previous report)
More charges for the owner of a Union County slaughterhouse after disturbing conditions were discovered at the facility, forcing officers from the FWC to investigate claims of animal neglect and food safety issues.
An incident report from the FWC indicates that 34 whitetail deer were missing FWC confirmation numbers, owner’s name, or state of origin at Rogers Wild Game Processing.
The owner of the slaughterhouse, Roger Tanner, 63, was charged with 34 counts of violation of the Florida Administrative Code pertaining to the tagging and logging of Whitetail Deer.
Tanner was also charged with one count of violating the Florida Administrative Code pertaining to the possession of Deer with bone from outside Florida.
OALE investigators issued Tanner a notice to appear for violation relating to cruelty to animals, specifically deprivation of necessary sustenance.
It all started from a tip received by law enforcement by a customer of Rogers Wild Game Processing. According to police, Animal Control found one pig and one cow in a trailer at Rogers Wild Game Processing Wednesday morning. The animals were alive but had been in the trailer for a little less than a week, with no food and water.
First Coast News spoke to the cow's owners, Brian and Linda Rucker. The cow is now back in their care. They say they brought her to Roger's facility because the regular facility they bring animals too was had a six to eight month waitlist and could no longer take care of her. However, they say they were furious to find out the cow they sent there to be slaughtered was left locked up with no food or water.
"We feel like as humans, we have a responsibility to care for our animals, and other people for that matter as well. And there's just there was just no way to fix it, there was no way to undo it, there was nothing that we could do," the Rucker's said.
The Rucker's say the cow lost about 80lbs while at Tanner's facility. Brian Rucker says they've filed multiple complaints against Tanner and want him charged with animal cruelty.
"I had just seen there was no remorse, like he just wasn't going to quit," Brian Rucker said.
On the day law enforcement agencies arrived on scene, there were no employees on scene. The business was supposed to be open, according to their website, but officers said that the owners and employees have disconnected all of their phone lines.
Dumpsters on the property overflowed with animal waste and numerous small portable coolers contained animal parts.
Carcasses of livestock hanging in a freezer had a gray, mold-like substance growing on them, FWC said.
The Rucker's say, in the meantime, they rescued their cow, but are looking for new owners to have her.
"I figured she deserves the right to the possibility to go live a full life and in other fields somewhere," Linda Rucker said.
First Coast News previously caught up with Tanner about the accusations. He says some of his employees are unreliable and because of supply shortages, sometimes it takes longer to get meat back to customers. He says he doesn't have anything to hide and denied animals on the property were neglected.