Meade County court gives animals seized from Charm Farm to new sanctuary

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Last month, we reported that the Charm Farm located in Meade County had their animals seized. On February 24, the animals were seized from the property due to what the Meade County Sheriff’s Office described as “neglect and abuse”.

Tuesday, Tamara Lile was in court to see whether or not she would get her animals back.

During the hearing, one of the witnesses from the animal industry board claims he gave Lile a chance to fix her situation before the state finally had to step in and take the animals away.

Although Lile does have other animals on the ranch, the state claims those animals did not look like they were facing the same neglect as the animals in question.

According to a vet from the Animal Industry Board, while looking at a horse named Wild Fire, the vet said he could see Wild Fire’s bones. The vet gave Wild Fire a score of three out of nine, one being the skinniest and nine being obese.

He also claimed the animals only had about 4 inches of drinking water, and the rest of it was frozen.

Finally, when doing an investigation around the premises, there was a tarp covering a dead horse carcass, and a few feet away was a dead llama, as well as goat and chicken carcasses. The vet said the situation was unsanitary for the animals that were seized.

Once the animals were out of Charm Farm’s custody they went to other vets.

According to the state, the animals now seem more relaxed and look healthier.

Tuesday, the court decided to have the animals transferred to Happy Tails Haven.