The Daily Populous Tuesday December 31st, 2024 evening edition
Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by diacewrb

A Texas teenager has been charged with animal cruelty after she was accused of using pesticide to poison and kill a rival’s competition show goat.

Authorities allege that Aubrey Vanlandingham, 17, used a drench gun to force-feed toxic pesticide to the goat, named Willie, at a barn at the Vista Ridge high school in Cedar Park in October.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by multiple outlets, Vanlandingham reportedly confessed to deliberately poisoning the animal, an act that was captured on CCTV footage.

The goat died about 21 hours later after convulsing and showing signs of respiratory distress, documents say.

A necropsy confirmed that the cause of death was organophosphate intoxication from phosmet, a pesticide commonly used for external parasite control in livestock, CBS Austin reported.

Vanlandingham confessed to police that she deliberately poisoned the goat because she believed the animal’s owner was “a cheater”, according to the affidavit. She reportedly said it was her second attempt to kill the goat.

Investigators who searched her phone history found that she had searched “how much bleach can kill an animal” and “poisoning pets, what you should know”, People reported. She also allegedly searched “how to clear search history”.

Vanlandingham faces up to two years in prison if convicted of cruelty to livestock animals.

The mother of the 15-year-old girl whose goat was killed said her family wanted “justice” and hoped Vanlandingham would receive jail time if found guilty.

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“We were there when he passed away. My daughter was actually holding him. So that was very traumatic,” she told the Daily Mail.

“We don’t believe there is any remorse there,” the mother added. “We want justice served, we don’t want a slap on the wrist. We want to make sure that she is punished.”

Interesting_Sock9142 on December 31st, 2024 at 18:32 UTC »

Oh she is totally not remorseful. I don't even think she's upset she got caught....just more so inconvenienced. What an evil little girl. What sucks the most is people charged with animal abuse rarely get a punishment that is fitting of the crime...because their victims are animals. Bleh.

isabella_sunrise on December 31st, 2024 at 16:08 UTC »

I hope she gets jail time for this needlessly cruel act.

diacewrb on December 31st, 2024 at 11:20 UTC »

> She reportedly said it was her second attempt to kill the goat.

> Investigators who searched her phone history found that she had searched “how much bleach can kill an animal” and “poisoning pets, what you should know”,

and

> “how to clear search history”.

She was also caught on CCTV from the article.