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Malnourished and dead lambs. Dead turkeys. Neglected horses, cats and dogs.
That’s what a Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Deputy reported after a May visit to a Blomkest hobby farm.
Now, a Blomkest man has been charged in Kandiyohi County District Court with one felony and 13 misdemeanors for the alleged mistreatment and torture of animals on that hobby farm.
According to the criminal complaint on the charges, Leonard K. Kester, 48, lived at the address, but the farm was his wife’s. She had been excluded from the residence for just over a week based on an order for protection.
She told sheriff’s deputies that when she returned to the farm May 7 after a modification to the order, she discovered that the animals “had neither food nor water and appeared to be thin and malnourished.” The woman told authorities the animals had been healthy April 28 , when she last saw them.
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A sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to the scene that same day, and observed abnormally thin animals, a dead lamb that had been half-eaten by other animals, and missing animals that still have not been located.
The two neglected lambs, one dead lamb and three dead turkeys were considered mistreated livestock on the complaint. Two miniature horses, two cats and two dogs were considered mistreated pets.
The criminal complaint says the miniature horses were locked in a horse trailer that did not appear to have been cleaned of excrement for a considerable amount of time.
The woman also reported past animal mistreatment to authorities. She said Kester punched a ewe in the face in May 2013 when it was not nursing its lamb. He also allegedly picked up and threw his daughter’s kitten into a shed, causing injury to its leg.
The woman alleged that Kester had mistreated those animals to terrorize and intimidate her and their daughter.
Kester made his first court appearance Wednesday. His next court date is an omnibus hearing set for April 25.
