By Leah Justice

leah.justice@tryondailybulletin.com

David and Shannon Hamby were convicted last week of animal cruelty in connection with the deaths of four alpacas and two llamas at a Smith Dairy Road farm in Columbus.

Judge Athena F. Brooks sentenced the Hambys during Polk County District Court on Wednesday, Aug. 5.

Both received suspended sentences to spend 18 months on unsupervised probation and to pay restitution.

Both David and Shannon Hamby faced charges of 11 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and seven felony counts of kill animal by starvation each.

The kill animal by starvation charges were dismissed with guilty pleas to misdemeanor animal neglect, according to Polk County District Court results.

David Hamby was convicted of four counts of animal neglect and received a sentence of 10 days in jail, suspended on the grounds that he be placed on unsupervised probation for 18 months, pay restitution of $5,563 and pay court costs, according to district court results.

Shannon Hamby was convicted of two counts of animal neglect and received the same sentence of 10 days in jail, which was suspended for her to be placed on unsupervised probation for 18 months, pay $5,563 in restitution and court costs, according to court results.

The investigation into the alpaca and llama deaths began on March 5 of this year when the Polk County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint about the questionable health and welfare of the animals. Shannon Hamby lived on the farm. She and her estranged husband, David Hamby, owned the farm, according to sheriff’s office reports.

When Polk County Animal Control responded, officers located 18 animals on the farm, including four dead alpacas and one dead llama. Officers found one llama to be emaciated and it had to be euthanized, according to the sheriff’s office.

All the animals were seized from the property by the sheriff’s office.