Ernie Paragallo charged; SPCA takes over farm
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/sp...horses.html?hp

April 9, 2009
New York Takes Over Paragallo’s Horse Farm
By JOE DRAPE

The state police and the Columbia-Greene Humane Society/S.P.C.A. took over the farm of the prominent New York thoroughbred breeder and owner Ernie Paragallo on Wednesday, saying he had neglected horses under his care.

Multiple charges of animal cruelty are pending against Paragallo in Greene County; each count carries a punishment of up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The police entered Paragallo’s Center Brook Farm in Climax, N.Y., at about 1:20 p.m. with two veterinarians, said neighbors and rescue workers. Veterinarians looked at about 40 horses, and all were in poor shape, said Ron Perez, president of the Humane Society/S.P.C.A. for Columbia and Greene Counties. Some horses were up to several hundred pounds underweight, he said.

“It’s really bad,” Perez said. “It’s the worst I’ve ever seen in a thoroughbred situation.”

The care and rehabilitation of the roughly 170 horses on the farm now falls to Perez’s group. “It’s going to cost us a fortune to get these horses back in shape,” he said.

Paragallo was not at the farm during the surprise raid and could not be reached for comment. Earlier this week, citing “a rough winter,” he said that some horses on his farm were underweight.

Perez said he did not know when the cruelty charges would be filed. “Our first priority is taking care of these horses,” he said.

Meanwhile Wednesday, Colleen Segarra, who removed two horses from the farm on Saturday and filed a police complaint about the dire condition of other horses on the farm, was on the way to a Cornell University veterinary center with one of the horses now in her care, a yearling colt.

“He is in very, very bad shape and may not make it past today,” said Segarra, a member of Equine Rescue Resource, which is caring for the yearling as well as his mother, who was also taken off the farm Saturday.

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board has also opened an investigation of Paragallo. On Tuesday the board issued a subpoena that will require Paragallo, a licensed authorized agent in New York who is associated with Paraneck Stable, to answer questions about the care of his horses.

Since 1996, Paragallo’s family-owned Paraneck Stable has been among the nation’s leading racing outfits, starting 4,686 runners who have earned $20.6 million in purses. He owns half of the stallion Unbridled’s Song, who commands a $125,000 stud fee in Kentucky.

In the past week, however, several individuals and rescue groups have shed light on the poor condition of horses under his care. Four malnourished and lice-infested horses were found last month in a New York kill pen, one step from a slaughterhouse.

The Jockey Club released a statement on Wednesday saying that it supported the investigations and that it would not recognize any of his Paragallo’s horses if he is found guilty of animal cruelty, which would effectively end his career as a thoroughbred owner and breeder.

Good. ****ing scumbag.

PS:

I have always hated this mofo like a sickness, but this is even lower than I expected of him.

Hey it was a rough winter!! Aaaaayyy

I hope at least he spends a couple minutes behind bars.

Joe Drape's interview
 

"Furthermore, pursuant to Section V, Rule 19A (4) of the Principal Rules and Requirements of The American Stud Book, The Jockey Club reserves the right to deny any or all of the privileges of The American Stud Book to any person or entity when there is a final determination by a court, an official tribunal, or an official racing body that such person has killed, abandoned, mistreated, neglected, or abused, or otherwise committed an act of cruelty to a horse.

“The Jockey Club has invoked this rule in the past and will not hesitate to do so again when appropriate. The Jockey Club maintains a long-held conviction that owners are responsible and should be held accountable for the care, well-being, and humane treatment of their Thoroughbred horses.”

The above was from the Bloodhorse article. Listening to Joe Drape from the NY Times on ATTR he didn't sound confident that anything would really be done. My question is, what does the above excerpt mean? Since Paragallo is a part owner of Unbridled Song would this affect breeding to this horse while he is under the ownership of Paragallo?

I heard him too. As he said, the action that can taken easily and immediately is for NYRA to deny stalls to Paragallo.

Or deny him access to the entry box, especially with the cloud that hangs over the relationship between him and Paraneck Stable.

somehow i'm betting he never missed a meal.

where's his defender these days?

Rough winter?? Where does all his Unbridled's Song money go?

I think some folks are convinced nothing will ever be done on a serious level in these situations in terms of banning, Jockey Club actions, etc. but between Ernie and Mullins we have 2 guys caught red handed breaking the rules. In Paragallo's case it's particularly horrific. I happen to think the NTRA and NYRA to name a couple are particularly anxious to put some heads on pikes as examples--those guys just volunteered.

http://www.drf.com/news/article/102845.html

excellent related piece by Matt hegarty that I know he worked REALLY hard on.

really was a good read. there's no easy answer to the issue of what to do with all these horses-35k or so a year in foals. most horses live to 25 years old or higher. it would be nice if breeders and owners only took on what they could conceivably handle for life, but we all know that won't happen.

what i do know is no horse deserves to be neglected, mistreated, starved, or allowed to become infested with parasites. there is no excuse for what they found on that farm, especially when you consider that paragallo isn't exactly destitute.

i hope he is never allowed to own an animal of any kind ever again.

Superb fair minded article, but to ask what to do with the alleged unwanted horses and come up with one answer is crap ...

Both pro-slaughter and anti-slaughter factions know that all horses can not be found homes .

But there is more than one answer, and it should be one of several NOT allowing the owner to profit on the food value of said animal ...

I wholeheartedly agree. Is the conscience of the people selling these horses to slaughter so cheap that a couple of hundred dollars paid by a kill buyer makes a difference? If they can't they find a new home for it why can't they call the vet and have the animal humanely euthanized?

While Thoroughbred race horses are by no means "pets" to many, they are still living, breathing beings who make some people a lot of money and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect throughout their life and in their death. I firmly believe that by "owning" an animal you have made a commitment to care for that animal through its life. The idea of getting rid of an animal because it is no longer useful is disgraceful.

Which is something that won't be touched. Even though it's without a doubt
the root cause and equally as corrupt in my opinion.

I can't speak for breeders, but there are a lot of owners out there who are responsible for their horses, both when they race and after. Of course, crap like this overshadows any good that others try and do. But please don't lump all owners into the same basket as this guy.

One would hope some good will come from this, it atleast brings awareness to the problem in the industry in the inhumane treatment of horses and horse slaughter in general. We can only hope the outrage of owners like Paragallo can be sustained, I do remember the story of Exceller and while how shocking that story was and some good did come from it, apathy soon set in. We can't forget about horses at tracks like Charlestown, Penn National...and what happens to these horses when there racing careers are over.

I'm not saying they are all guilty of this and the responsible owners will do what they can to find good homes for these horses.

Paragallo is far from the norm in terms of horse owners or breeders. Far more people go out of their way to take care of their horses than neglect them but those are not really news stories so you dont hear about them. The fact is Ernie is a sociopath and anything that he does should not be surprising.

I pray for the horses and I do hope Mr Paragallo can receive the help he needs .

You are the ONLY other poster I've seen refer to Paragallo as a sociopath aside from myself. The common perception of a sociopath is a serial killer. Not so. I've worked with several bona fide sociopaths, the garden variety type.
Paragallo is a serial killer of horses, a sociopath.

Good description of a "common sociopath." though.

WHEN YOU SAY THE WORD "sociopath" most people think of serial killers. But although many serial killers are sociopaths, there are far more sociopaths leading ordinary lives. Chances are you know a sociopath. I say "ordinary lives," but what they do is far from ordinary. Sociopaths are people without a conscience. They don't have the normal empathy the rest of us take for granted. They don't feel affection. They don't care about others. But most of them are good observers, and they have learned how to mimic feelings of affection and empathy remarkably well.

Most people with a conscience find it very difficult to even imagine what it would be like to be without one. Combine this with a sociopath's efforts to blend in, and the result is that most sociopaths go undetected.

Because they go undetected, they wreak havoc on their family, on people they work with, and on anyone who tries to be their friend. A sociopath deceives, takes what he (or she) wants, and hurts people without any remorse. Sociopaths don't feel guilty. They don't feel sorry for what they've done. They go through life taking what they want and giving nothing back. They manipulate and deceive and convincingly lie without the slightest second thought. They leave a path of confusion and upset in their wake.

Who are these people? Why are they the way they are? Apparently it has little to do with upbringing. Many studies have been done trying to find out what kind of childhood leads to sociopathy. So far, nothing looks likely. They could be from any kind of family. It is partly genetic, and partly mystery.

But researchers have found that the brains of sociopaths function differently than normal people. And their brains function in a way that makes their emotional life unredeemably shallow. And yet they are capable of mimicking emotions like professional actors.

Sociopaths and psychopaths are the same thing. The original name for this disorder was "psychopath" but the general public and media confused it with "psycho" and "psychotic" so in the 1930s the name was changed to sociopath. Recently the media again caused a misperception that sociopaths were always serial killers, so now many call the condition "antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)."

But some experts think ASPD includes many things like narcissism, paranoia, etc., including sociopathy. And others think ASPD is the same thing as sociopathy, but the diagnostic criteria used to describe and diagnose ASPD is different than sociopathy, so for the purposes of this article, we'll stay with the term "sociopathy."

Sociopaths don't have normal affection with other people. They don't feel attached to others. They don't feel love. And that is why they don't have a conscience. If you harmed someone, even someone you didn't know, you would feel guilt and remorse. Why? Because you have a natural affinity for other human beings. You know how it feels to suffer, to fear, to feel anguish. You care about others.

If you hurt someone you love, the guilt and remorse would be very bad because of your affection for him or her. Take that attachment and affection away and you take away remorse, guilt, and any kind of normal feelings of fairness. That's a sociopath.

http://www.youmeworks.com/sociopaths.html

I think we all have posted with a few sociopaths.

"My kids will put somebody else in charge [of the stable]," Paragallo said. "I'm going to dedicate myself right now to righting that situation on the farm. That's my goal right now."


Not my fault. My kids fault. Got it? Good.

see--when he lost his license in '05, he put it in two of his kids names, with him being named as agent for paraneck. just a way for him to get around the rules i guess.

Three squares and a cot?

way more than he gave to the poor creatures under his 'care'.

I would like to formerly say I am a complete idiot for thinking that Paragallo was slightly in the dark about his stock and the conditions of his farm. It is unbelieveable to me how this person could have so much and not even give reasonable care to his stock.. For godsake he owns 50% of the sports hotest stallion and has won 10's of millions racing... My mind simply can comprehend such insanity... I am truly a moron for thinking this beast could be innocent..

Don't know if this is posted elsewhere here.


http://www.drf.com/news/article/102892.html

'a young stallion on the farm died on Thursday'.


this sick situation makes me so angry. that much more so knowing this guy had the funds to keep these horses well, but CHOSE not to feed them. sickening and disgusting. i guess it's too much to hope he spends time in jail? what are new yorks laws regarding situations like this?

i would love to be the one to give him the help he needs.

Now say it FORMALLY not FORMERLY ....

Takes a man to own up to his errors, though, and do it FORMALLY ...

That said---to all----animal hoarders which do not see that they have too many animals to properly feed and care for are sociopaths as well ...

There are a few noteworthy ones in the world of equine rescue, and some have gotten busted ...

Some of Paragallo's defenses sound like those of the hoarders--blind to their mistakes-- but the rest sounds like what it is--crap ...

The blame game is a fave of the hoarders, and Ernie does it as well ...

He needs to bail with his wallet and his HIDE on this one ...

http://sports.yahoo.com/rah/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns


'it wasn't abuse'.


yes, it was ernie.

Paragallo suspended by NYRA
 

Noon Lexington news reporting Paragallo has been suspended by NYRA for cruelty - can't find details to verify anywhere.

Still less than he deserves.

Reports indicating Paragallo has been arrested and is being charged formally as part of his sit down with state police and SPCA officials today...

That was yesterday.

http://www.drf.com/news/article/102892.html

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories...ategory=SPORTS

Didn't see that last night, good deal (until we see who the owners put as the new authorized agent for the racing stable).