A Lindsay woman charged with 14 counts of animal cruelty was found guilty on only two of those charges during a nonjury trial in Garvin County District Court last week.
Heather Shawna Scyrkels, 50, of Lindsay, was charged with the crimes after 178 animals were removed from her Lindsay home in June of 2021, including 100 chickens, multiple cats and dogs, and a variety of exotic animals including sugar gliders, a sun conure, reptiles and a kinkajou.
District Judge Leah Edwards found Scyrkels not guilty on nine of the charges against her and the court granted demurrer on three more, essentially negating those charges.
The mixed verdict was handed down after both the state and the defense painted very different pictures for the court of the conditions in Scyrkels’ home at the time the animals were removed.
State witness Samantha Randol, who was an animal control officer for the city of Lindsay in 2021, told the court she initially went to Scyrkels’ home after receiving multiple calls about animals that needed to be checked on.
Randol and two Lindsay police officers who assisted in the initial welfare call and in serving subsequent search warrants all testified they experienced a strong smell of animal urine from the front porch of the residence.
“The air was very pungent with ammonia,” Randol testified.
She said Scyrkels initially refused her entry to the home, but later allowed her inside.
Once inside Randol said she observed animal urine and feces in the floor and dirty enclosures for a variety of animals in the main rooms of the home.
Two officers who later served a warrant at the residence testified the smell in the house was overwhelming, causing them to cough and requiring them to take frequent breaks for fresh air as they worked in the home.
“It burned your nostrils, eyes and lungs,” Lindsay police officer Dereck Hickman said.
Hickman testified he had to seek breathing treatments after being in the house.
All three testified to seeing a cat in a cage with what appeared to be IV equipment nearby. None of the witnesses could confirm they saw the cat being administered an IV.
Many of the reptiles and birds had either no food or water in their enclosures, or had feces in the bowls, according to Randol.
Randol said she also observed at least nine dogs in crates stacked in a bedroom of the home. Some of the crates had urine or feces in the bottom of them. Randol said several of the dogs had sores or were missing hair. She testified the physical symptoms she saw were consistent with poor hygiene or care.
Randol testified, “Every animal we removed saw a veterinarian within 24 hours.”
She said after removing the animals, several chickens died within the first week, one cat was euthanized, three dogs were put on heart medications, and all were treated for fleas.
When Scyrkels took the stand, she told the court she has an associate’s degree in veterinary technology and an extensive background working with animals through previous jobs in animal welfare, at rescues and shelters, and in an equine clinic.
She said the dogs and cats in her care in June of 2021 were animals she had taken in from shelters, rescues and private citizens, and that almost all of them had an existing health condition when they arrived at her home.
She later testified that with the exception of Dean, the cat Randol and law enforcement officers said they observed in the cage near the IV equipment, all the animals were healthy when they were removed from her home.
Scyrkels testified some of the missing water dishes in the reptile enclosures witnessed by Randol and law enforcement in June of 2021 were due to the humidity requirements of the animals. She also testified that food was missing from the enclosures of some of the other nocturnal animals and reptiles due to alternative feeding schedules and hand feeding of live insects.
She said the smell Randol and officers detected from the front porch of the home was not coming from inside but rather was due to neighborhood cats spraying the porch area.
During the testimony, Scyrkels mentioned her prior history, opening the door for the state to question her about previous animal cruelty charges filed against her in 2016, when 111 animals were removed from her Lindsay home, and also in 2012, when she was charged with animal cruelty in Grady County, 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.
Friends and family of Scyrkels testified they had not experienced the odors described by Lindsay police and had not witnessed urine or feces on the floor, or other unsanitary conditions in the home in the days and weeks prior to the animals being removed in the 2021 case.
Scyrkels’ daughter testified the dogs kept in crates were only crated when Scyrkels was away from the home or at work.
“These cases are difficult because I get the sense, not only from the witnesses the defense put on, but the defendant herself, that they have a love for animals,” Assistant District Attorney Corey Miner said in his closing arguments. “I don’t know, however, what causes people, for lack of a better word, to hoard animals, which is what this is.”
“You can hear from the testimony of our witnesses, as opposed to the defendant, that these are two, totally separate realities. … I think the defendant’s reality and the facts of the case are diametrically opposed,” Miner said. “I can tell you any person is going to have a hard time believing that 178 animals in a home is capable of being hygienic, whatsoever.”
Defense attorney Samuel Endicott argued in his closing statements that the prosecution had failed to prove its case for cruelty.
“In fact, some of the charges included on here for lack of food and water, for example the sugar gliders and the kinkajou might not have had food and water, but that was because my client was following the proper procedures for taking care of these nocturnal animals. Similarly, the bearded dragon not having necessary water was because she was informed on the best recommended way to keep that bearded dragon’s enclosure in order to ensure that bearded dragon stayed healthy,” Endicott said.
Endicott argued the state had offered no testimony from veterinary medicine professionals, no photos, and no proof of long-term, recurring deprivation of food, shelter or water.
The two charges for which Scyrkels was found guilty involved failure to provide proper shelter and veterinary care for the ill cat and depriving nine dogs confined to crates without adequate food or water.
Scyrkels’ sentencing on those charges is set for July 21.