Arrested on 16 animal cruelty charges, Davie farm owner speaks out as he comes out of jail
A local farm sits empty of animals and children after Davie police arrested its owner Thursday on 16 counts of animal cruelty.
Officers said the animals at "Family Farms" were severely underfed, prompting their removal and charges against owner Robert Hoover.
Animals found in poor condition, report says
According to an arrest report, police conducted covert investigations and observed alarming conditions on the property.
"Both times the bovines on the property have their spinal columns, ribs, and hip bone protruding that would suggest they are being underfed," the report states. Officers also noted,
"The bovines did not have any visible food in their pens and relied on patrons purchasing food from the business to feed them." The report continues, "The bovines stampede to visitors when they are presented with food that suggests they are hungry and not being fed."
Hoover speaks out
Hoover walked out of Broward County Jail on Friday night, where he stopped and answered questions from reporters. Here is what he had to say:
"What I'd like to say is that the town of Davie did an overreach. We rescued animals. We've had these cows that are the black cows that are over 25 years old. We feed them. We have vet bills, we have food. We take care of our animals.
We have a white cow that's skinny. That was a rescue that we got from Okeechobee, and that was done for a near, very nice purpose on our part. Nobody came and asked us questions. Town of Davie came in. They cut the power. They came in with two giant SWAT vehicles. They jumped out with ARs. They ran all over with their ARs. We were in the middle. We had kids out there and everything else. They had no concern for what really was taking place.
What they should do is they should have done an investigation. They should have said, 'Okay, so let's walk around and talk and look at the animals,' and then they could have gotten a true picture and an understanding of what was taking place.
The reality is, is it's either a land grab because they want their tax money or what—I don't know. But it's not-they're using the animals as just a platform. It's an easy item for you guys and for the people to say, 'Oh, there's animals in need. We need to protect them.'
Well, this is true. We've been a family farm for all of my life. I've been farming. We take care of our animals. We rely on them. We don't use them for slaughter. We use them for education.
We have many employees. We always feed our animals. We have a lot of food on hand and everything else. So, what they should have done is they should have come in and they should have done an investigation that was a real investigation, instead of making a dramatic event for you guys to try to create a scenario that puts us as if we're bad people.
When the truth is they have hurt our reputation. Because now what can the public know or believe or understand when they have put out?
Every day the water has changed completely so they can say whatever they want, but every day we change the water and give them fresh water. Number one.
Number two, the ponies are of weight and perfect. We are building a pen in the back because we're going to retire those—they're part of our family. And so we were going to retire those and get more of them.
We have perfect ponies that are very healthy and very happy, along with the rest of our animals—because we consider them to be our friends and our family, a part of what we do. We rely on them.
It's not you guys; you have pets. We all understand how you connect with those creatures. This isn't something that—we're not monsters. We love them. We treat them the same as our pets. And so that's how I respond to your question about that.
Those are allegations, and it's a sad scenario that the truth will come out. I hope. I will pursue legal recourse in this scenario, but the truth will come out.
Number one, the cows. There's three black cows. Those cows are 25 years old. They're old ladies. Have you ever thought about the scenario that they're not always going to be muscular? But we don't just discard them because they're old. They're our friends.
Maybe it's better for the public eye that we stay with young, freshly healthy animals, but they've become part of our family, and so maybe against better judgment, I have kept those as our creatures that we love and we care for.
That's number one for the old black cows. Then there's one small white cow—that cow, we rescued that cow. All of our animals get veterinarian care, they get medicine, they're all healthy. That was a rescue animal that we're fattening up.
So, are we the bad people? Because this narrative was started because we ended up acquiring a white cow that was undernourished—that we're the ones that are caring for?
Isn't it Davie's responsibility, if they're going to do this type of an action, to investigate properly what really is going on behind the scenes?
We're a family farm. We've been a family farm for all of this. This is what I do. It's who I am. So, what is going on behind the scenes is the question I think that should really be asked—and that will come out."
Attorney defends farm practices
Hoover's attorney, David Braun, pushed back on the allegations, calling them unfounded and pointing to Hoover's longstanding commitment to his animals.
"I've been to the farm dozens of times and I know what lengths he takes to take care of his animals and make sure they have what they need," Braun said.
Braun also attributed the accusations to personal grievances rather than genuine concern. "I think it's just, some of it is a lack of understanding of how a farm operates and some of it is just downright ex-girlfriends, ex-wives, other folks that have not been happy with something, some aspect or dealings with Mr. Hoover," he said.
He added that Hoover has faced similar claims in the past, all of which were dismissed.
"Their instinct is to just go for that allegation of animal abuse and it's really a shame, too bad," Braun said.
As a condition of Hoover's release, he is prohibited from possessing any animals.
