A rural Early woman was arrested Thursday after Sac County officials received a report that a total of over one-thousand dead pigs were discovered between two different confinement sites.
According to the Sac County Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement responded to the hog confinement areas, which are located approximately a half-mile apart from each other in the 24-hundred mile of Otter Avenue. During the investigation, officers interviewed 33-year-old Elana May Laber, who was hired to maintain both sites. Laber first told law enforcement that someone had shut off the breakers that control the electricity the night before, which caused the pigs to die. A veterinarian inspection determined the pigs had been dead for at least a week. Laber later told law enforcement that she knew the pigs had been dead for a week, but did not know what to do.
Laber was charged with two counts of 1st Degree Criminal Mischief, and two counts of Livestock Neglect. She was booked into the Sac County Jail on a 22-thousand bond.
The pigs were in different stages of decomposition. They had no access to feed or water. The estimated loss due to the deaths of the pigs is more than 150-thousand dollars.
(Courtesy Community First Broadcasting station KAYL in Storm Lake)
