A Polk City couple were arrested Tuesday after the animal rights group PETA conducted an undercover investigation of the couple’s animal rescue facility and turned in its video to the Sheriff’s Office.

  • Sheriff said it may have started off as rescue but became hoarding
  • Rescue partner admitted to not feeding hogs everyday
  • Sheriff said there was plenty of food at facility

The couple now faces more than 80 animal cruelty and neglect charges.

The video shows mostly hogs that PETA and the Sheriff’s Office said were not being fed enough food. PETA and investigators also said some of the hogs had infirmities that were not being treated.

The animal rescue is called Darlynn’s Darlins.


On his way to jail, Clinton “Butch” Martin admitted the hogs were not fed every day.

Darlynn Czemer didn’t say anything to reporters as she was being brought into the Polk County jail, but her partner, Clinton “Butch” Martin, said the couple was doing the best it could with the animals but admitted they were not fed every day.

"Well, it actually got to the point where it wasn't every day,” he said. “But it was a good part of the week. But when they did get fed, it was a good portion of food."

Sheriff Grady Judd said Darlynn’s Darlins may have started off as an animal rescue but didn’t turn out that way.

"It turned into a hoarding situation. They apparently weren't letting any of the animals go,” Judd said.

Judd said it wasn’t clear why some of the animals were not being properly fed, because there was plenty of food at the facility.

PETA is pleased with the quick response to its investigation. Investigators seized more than a hundred hogs, cattle, dogs, chickens and cats after PETA contacted the Sheriff’s Office.

"It sets a standard for a large-scale animal cruelty case in the country,” PETA’s Dan Paden said.

"They are locked up in the jail,” Judd said. “That's where they need to be.

"Guess what — we are going to feed them three times a day while they are in the county jail," he said.