Animal Cruelty Update

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Created on Tuesday, 06 May 2014 17:38

Written by Jessie Slater

LYNDON- Bruce Bona, of Lyndonville, was in Caledonia Superior Court Tuesday morning where he pled not guilty to twenty-one counts of animal cruelty and all misdemeanor charges. Bona was given a 24 hour delay from Monday, to better prepare himself for Tuesday's court apperance.

Bona waived his right to a public attorney at the arraignment, opting to represent himself in court. This won’t be his first time representing himself. Bona had previously represented himself on charges of felony arson and simple assault.

Near the end of February the police received a tip about a "dead horse" at the Bona Ranch on Back Center Road, so they got a search warrant to investigate. The investigation started March 1st and when they arrived, Bona relinquished custody of nearly two dozen horses to the Caledonia County Sherriff's Department.

Volunteer Pat Mitchell the president of the Elizabeth H. Browne Humane Society in Victory said that she's been receiving complaints about the treatment of Bona's horses for years. On February 10th, Mitchell said she went to Bona's house to speak to him about the conditions of his animals.

"I told him I was here to investigate a complaint that had come into me. I told him if I could take a look at the horses it would clear things up and I'd be on my way. He told me to come back at three o'clock. So I did. But then he asked me where my legal papers were. I said I don't have any, I just figured we could talk about it," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said that when Bona told her she couldn't enter his barn, she became ever more concerned and forwarded some of the complaints she received to police.
As humane society volunteers were moving them to area foster farms police found 3 additional dead horses that had been covered with debris, including grain bags, near a quonset hut.

Police said Bona told humane society volunteers that another horse was also head and had fallen into the Passumpsic River.

The pre-trial conference will be held on June 17th, and he is set to stand his trial September 10th.