SHIPPENSBURG – Barry Lee Orndorff, 64, of Shippensburg, will face felony and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges for failing to provide proper care for the animals in his possession, according to the Pennsylvania State Police.
State police served a search warrant on Saturday to Orndorff’s home and the accused surrendered one horse, 40 sheep, 20 goats, 40 ducklings, 40 assorted birds and 10 rabbits to Speranza Animal Rescue.
Orndorff failed to provide necessary sustenance, potable water, clean and sanitary shelter that offers protection from the weather and necessary veterinary care to the animals.
He was taken into custody and charged with 450 counts of felony aggravated animal cruelty and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges.
The $5,000 bail was posted by Orndorff. A preliminary hearing has been set for June 14.
Pennsylvania State Police thanks the efforts of Speranza Animal Rescue and their volunteers.
Attorney Clint Barkdoll talked about the case on First News this morning.
In terms of the photos, Barkdoll said, “These animals clearly look like they were neglected. The owner of this farm has been charged with over 2,000 criminal charges relating to the neglect of these animals.”
At the preliminary hearing, the magistrate judge will have to determine if there’s enough evidence to move it on through the system.
Barkdoll said, “This defendant is looking at potentially really serious penalties if he’s convicted of these charges. This volume of charges certainly would involve jail time in addition to fines. When you see this volume of animals and this level of neglect, could there be some other things that were happening with this guy that had them on his farm? It remains to be seen some of those kind of details. He does have a presumption of innocence of course until proven guilty. Awful, awful case.”
The silver lining here is that Speranza has already raised over $65,000 to help care for the animals.
Barkdoll said, “Good for them and good for everyone that’s doing what they can to try to help these animals. I’m sure this rescue, they have a monumental task of trying to get these animals placed somewhere even on a temporary basis at places that can care for them.”
For more information on Speranza and their mission, click here: https://www.speranzarescue.org/
