A Lindsay woman found guilty of animal cruelty earlier this year received two, five-year suspended sentences in Garvin County District Court Friday and will be prohibited from owning any animals for a 10-year period.
Heather Shawna Scyrkels was charged with 14 counts of animal cruelty in 2021, after 178 animals were removed from her Lindsay home, including 100 chickens, multiple cats and dogs, and a variety of exotic animals including sugar gliders, a sun conure, reptiles and a kinkajou.
Scyrkels was found guilty on two of the 14 counts in May of this year following a nonjury trial in Garvin County District Court. The two charges for which Scyrkels was found guilty involved failure to provide proper shelter and veterinary care for an ill cat and depriving nine dogs who were confined to crates without adequate food or water.
During Friday’s sentencing hearing the court heard testimony regarding restitution for board and medical care provided to the animals removed from Scyrkels’ home in 2021.
Samantha Randol, who was an animal control officer for the city of Lindsay in 2021, testified she helped provide food for the animals with her own money after they were removed from Scyrkels’ home.
“Due to the significant volume of the animals we had to take, the city did not have the means necessary at the time for food. I spent, while working there for the first year that we had those animals, at least half of a paycheck once a month to provide canned food – soft food – personally for these animals because the city just didn’t have it in their budget.”
Randol, who has since left her employment with Lindsay, said though she had not calculated the cost of the canned food used to feed animals residing at Lindsay’s animal shelter, she has personally had custody of the kinkajou removed from Scyrkels’ home and has spent roughly $50 per week on fresh fruit and vegetables, chicken breast, peanut butter, monkey biscuits and meal worms, a sum she estimated added up to well over $5,000.
Assistant District Attorney Corey Miner asked Randol if she would like the court to order restitution to her in that amount.
Randol said she would be willing to forgo restitution in exchange for being allowed to keep the kinkajou, named Wicket.
“I’m going to be honest, if they will just allow Wicket to stay with me, I would be willing to forgive the monetary part. He has been through enough. He doesn’t need to continue to be tossed from place to place. They tend to bond with their caregivers. It took a lot for he and I to bond, and I am his person at the moment,” Randol said.
Lindsay veterinarian Tammy Minton provided testimony related to nearly $5,500 in medical bills for care the animals have received at Lindsay Veterinary Hospital over the last two years.
“The majority of the animals were not in good condition,” Minton said.
She testified the dogs and cats had fleas, and many had matted fur, coughs or heart conditions.
In addition to medical care, Minton said the animals were vaccinated, groomed and microchipped.
Scyrkels’ attorney Samuel Endicott argued the court should only consider restitution for the animals related to charges for which Scyrkels was found guilty, which would have been one cat and nine dogs, not the cost of care for all 178 animals.
Endicott told the court Scyrkels would also like to work through the process of having the animals returned to her.
“I don’t believe it’s in the court’s authority to order the surrender of an animal that was ultimately not found to be subject to animal cruelty,” Endicott said.
ADA Miner told the court the position of the district attorney’s office was to “request the maximum amount of time in the department of corrections for this defendant.”
“This is the third case of animal cruelty she has had. She has had two prior opportunities to address whatever this is that compels her to behave this way, and she has yet to achieve that,” Miner said referring to a 2016 case in which 111 animals were removed from Scyrkels’ home and a 2012 case in Grady County where Scyrkels was charged in connection to neglected or malnourished horses.
Court records show charges were dismissed in the 2016 case, and a plea deal was reached in the 2012 case.
District Judge Leah Edwards sentenced Scyrkels to five years on each of the two counts of animal cruelty, with all five years to be suspended. The sentences are to run consecutively, effectively imposing a 10-year term of probation.
The court also ordered Scyrkels to be supervised by the department of corrections for a period of two years. Under the requirements of that supervision, Edwards said, Scyrkels is ordered to possess no animals during the entire 10-year probation period. She is also required to undergo a mental health evaluation within 45 days and to follow any recommendations stemming from that mental health evaluation.
Edwards further ordered Scyrkels to pay $5,460.05 to Minton and Lindsay Veterinary Hospital in restitution for unpaid medical bills incurred for the care of the animals since June of 2021.
Edwards then asked Scyrkels and her attorney whether she would be agreeable to allowing Randol to continue to care for the kinkajou in exchange for waiving monetary restitution, since Scyrkels will not be able to care for the animal herself under the terms of her sentence.
After a short break to discuss the matter, Endicott advised the court Scyrkels would like to find a new home for the kinkajou and pay the restitution to Randol.
“The court is certainly making no finding whatsoever regarding where the kinkajou goes, where the kinkajou stays. I don’t think that is in my purview. The only purview the court has is to order or not order restitution. What happens to the kinkajou will have to go through a civil process that does not involve this court,” Edwards said.
She then delayed issuing an order for restitution to Randol for 60 days, to allow for “further reflection and negotiation” as Scyrkels attempts to find an alternative home for the animal. Edwards ordered the court be advised in writing of the animal’s status by Sept. 20.