Linda Danhall, CEO, editor-in-chief, and responsible publisher for Haparandabladet, has been convicted of animal cruelty after her horse starved and was tortured to death. This was ruled by Haparanda District Court.

Danhall was recruited as recently as December last year to the top position at Haparandabladet after many years working at Norrländska Socialdemokraten.

At the same time as the much-noticed career change—which was covered by, among others, the Swedish Union of Journalists’ magazine Journalisten—a preliminary investigation into Linda Danhall for animal cruelty was underway.

Starving horse

The crime for which Linda Danhall is convicted took place in the spring and summer of 2023. In August that year, a pony escaped from Danhall’s paddock and was caught by a passing woman. The woman led the pony back into the paddock and at that point saw another horse, severely emaciated, in the enclosure.

“It was the worst thing I have seen in my entire life. I’m a horse girl myself so I was deeply upset,” the passing woman told police in an interview.

“You could count every rib. The vertebrae stuck out above the rump. Both hip bones were visible. It looked like it could die at any moment. That’s how horrible it was.”

The police were alerted, and the County Administrative Board in Norrbotten decided to make an unannounced animal welfare inspection at the home of the S-profiled woman. They checked all of Danhall’s animals—even her aquarium fish.

The fish’s aquarium was not sufficiently clean and a dog had become entangled in its leash without anyone helping it. Among other things. But the worst was with the horse Doris, who was severely emaciated. On a scale of 1–5, the County Administrative Board’s veterinarian classified Doris as a one; extremely emaciated.

Doris was assessed to have suffered for a long period of time, ongoing since at least the spring of the same year. That is, over several months.

Goes on holiday

Linda Danhall claims that Doris does not eat much due to previous stomach ulcers. The veterinarian who examined her questioned this explanation, since she ate “with good appetite” as long as the vet was there. No issues were found with her teeth or anything else that would make it difficult for the horse to eat, either.

The veterinarian recommended euthanasia, as Doris was in such poor condition and seemed to be suffering, but Linda Danhall refused. She wanted to “try to get” her horse “going” again.

After the County Administrative Board’s visit, Danhall chose to go on vacation. When she came back, Doris was “really, really bad.” When the County Administrative Board did a follow-up inspection at the end of August, less than three weeks after the first inspection, the horse was dead.

Linda Danhall initially said the horse had been found dead in the paddock the day before, and that it had “died by itself.” She later changed her story and claimed instead that the horse had been euthanized by one of her acquaintances. This explanation was considered by the court to be a made-up justification after the fact.

Danhall is now sentenced to a conditional sentence and 40 day fines, totaling 16,000 SEK, for animal cruelty. During the investigation, Danhall neither admitted nor denied the crime. After the verdict was delivered, she has, in various interviews, attempted to place the blame for the incident on others instead of taking responsibility herself.

Linda Danhall has previously been convicted of criminal offenses, but none particularly serious. Despite a good salary, she also has debts registered with the Swedish Enforcement Authority and is subject to salary garnishment.