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 PETA Employees Arrested In NC - 9/27/06 Update

10/15/05 Update

http://www.roanoke-chowannewsherald.com/articles/2005/10/15/news/news2.txt
New warrants filed against PETA pair

By Cal Bryant
WINTON - It's a brand new ballgame.

New charges have been filed against a pair of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) employees arrested June 15 in Ahoskie.

Yesterday (Friday) morning, Andrew Benjamin Cook, 24, of Virginia Beach, Va. and Adria Joy Hinkle, 27, of Norfolk, Va. appeared in Hertford County District Court on new charges of obtaining property by false pretense as well as revised animal cruelty charges.

Cook and Hinkle now face three counts each of obtaining property by false pretense. Those charges stem from the three cats/kittens allegedly picked-up by the pair on June 15 from Ahoskie Animal Hospital (AAH).

In an earlier statement made to this newspaper by Dr. Pat Proctor, owner of AAH, he said he contacted PETA in regards to picking-up the animals. He further stated that Hinkle and Cook came to his business on June 15 and picked-up the animals, promising to find them good homes. However, the cat and her two kittens, all judged by Proctor as in good health and adoptable, were among the 31 dead animals linked to Hinkle's and Cook's possession on the day of their arrest.

Additionally, the initial 31 felony cruelty to animals charges lodged against both Hinkle and Cook were dismissed. According to Hertford County Clerk of Court records, those charges were replaced by 22 counts each of felony cruelty to animals.

"The new cruelty to animals charges were written and served in order to correct some language over the ownership of the total number of animals and to have the new warrants serve a purpose of more properly identifying the animals," Valerie Mitchell Asbell, District 6B Attorney, said on Friday. "The 22 new warrants address those changes."

Asbell added she advised Hertford County District Court Judge W. Rob Lewis that she plans to take the new charges before the Hertford County Superior Court Grand Jury on Oct. 31.

The illegal dumping and misdemeanor trespassing charges as originally issued remain a part of the case against Hinkle and Cook.

Hinkle is being represented by Rich Square attorney Jack Warmack. Cook's general counsel is Mark Edwards of Durham.

Hinkle and Cook were arrested by the Ahoskie Police Department late in the afternoon of June 15 after law enforcement officials, on a stake-out, observed a white van in which the two were operating stop in an area located behind Piggly Wiggly in Ahoskie's Newmarket Shopping Center and toss several black bags in a commercial dumpster.

At that time, a traffic stop was initiated on the van - a vehicle registered to PETA.

The bags located in the dumpster contained 18 dead dogs, including one bag containing seven puppies. An additional 13 dead animals, including the mother cat and her two kittens, were found in the van.

Twenty-two of the animals discovered on June 15 were collected the same day by Hinkle and Cook from the Bertie County Animal Shelter, as confirmed by Bertie Animal Control Officer Barry Anderson. An autopsy performed later on one of those dogs revealed the animal was in good health prior to its death.

The story broke June 15, when PETA employees were caught dumping dead dogs and cats into dumpsters.  There had been nearly a dozen previous reports and police in the Town of Ahoskie were on the lookout.  Police did a traffic stop on the van which was registered to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) based in Norfolk, Va.  PETA employees Andrew Benjamin Cook, 24, and Adria Joy Hinkle, were arrested.  

18 animals were pulled from the Piggly Wiggley dumpster and 13 more dead animals were discovered in the van.  All were properly buried by town employees.

TheDogPress covered the story as just one of the outrageous acts performed by PETA supporters.  Below is the beginning: (information provided by Consumer Freedom.com)

PETA's 2005 Kill Rate Jumped To 90 Percent, Plus New Photos

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has just updated their animal-control statistics for 2005, and the numbers aren't pretty. 2006 Statistics aren’t available yet from Virginia State.

 According to the Virginia state veterinarian, PETA killed 1,946 cats, dogs, and other pets last year, in addition to 141 wild animals. In 2005 PETA managed a startling 90 percent kill rate (up from 86 percent the year before), adopting or transferring out only 215 animals. Added to PETA's earlier numbers, these new figures tell us that since July 1998 the group has killed over 14,400 cats, dogs, and other pets in Virginia.

Of course, Virginia isn't the only place where PETA is killing animals. In neighboring North Carolina, two PETA staffers have been charged with animal cruelty and obtaining property (the animals) by false pretenses. Adria Hinkle and Andrew Cook allegedly killed cats and dogs, stuffed their bodies into trash bags, and threw them into a dumpster.

We recently acquired additional photos of the crime scene, courtesy of the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald. Highlights include two new shots inside the "death van" itself, replete with cages, a copy of PETA's "Kind News," and pet food from IAMS (which PETA tells people to boycott).

There are also several new photographs of PETA's animal victims.

Before you click here, however, be warned -- some of these photos are not for the faint of heart.

2005 was also the year of Hurricane Katrina. PETA bragged in October about bringing 32 dogs back to Virginia from the disaster area.

Judging by their percentages, we're guessing at least 29 of those canines have already met their demise.  http://www.petakillsanimals.com/petaTrial2.cfm