A Tecumseh, Ont., man has been fined more than $50,000 for what the Windsor-Essex County Humane Society calls the "largest farm-animal cruelty case in years."
John Holland pleaded guilty to four of the eight animal cruelty charges he was facing – causing distress to an animal, two counts of failing to comply with standards of care, and permitting an animal to be in distress.
More than a dozen dead animals – including 10 pigs, two ducks and two sheep – and some malnourished horses were found at a farm last summer.
Humane society executive director Melanie Coulter calls the sentence inadequate, and says Holland deserved a lifetime ban from owning animals.
Coulter says when officers were removing animals from the property, other mistreated animals were being hidden.
A co-accused is still before the courts.