Puppy mill - approx 70 dogs Lakeland, FL (US) Incident Date: Thursday, Apr 25, 2002 County: Polk Local Map: available Disposition: Acquitted Person of Interest: Colleen M. Freeman Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Case ID: 1036 Classification: Hoarding, Neglect / Abandonment Animal: dog (non pit-bull) View more cases in FL (US) Login to Watch this Case

A fire swept through a wooden building turned kennel and killed 48 Chihuahuas. Officials said that when they were able to get inside, they found another 22 dogs still alive in cages...the dogs were in narrow 12-inch high plastic cages stacked on top of one another. Most of the cages had a layer of feces, up to 8" thick in some cages, covered with paper.

Pet-Abuse.Com was recently contacted by Ms. Freeman's daughter, who states that her mother is innocent:

"She has raised AKC registered dogs for decades. Every dog in her care was a registered, properly inoculated, and  well cared for animal.

"The court battle was especially hard for her because the people she trusted to help her contain the animals during the fire turned against her. They staged photographs for the press, lied on the stand, falsified documents, and manipulated the situation to try and justify the additional $40,000,000.00 they were asking for in the next legislative session.  They neglected to bring up that her kennel was a licensed facility that had been regularly inspected by the county and had never failed inspection. Both the Polk County Health Department and Animal Services knew how many dogs she had and the conditions they lived in and had no problem with either.

"She has, for years been an advocate of animal rights and taken many steps to support anti-puppy-mill organizations. She does not deserve to be treated in the same way as those who perpetrate such atrocities."

Case Updates

Neighborhood Map

For more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.

Back to Top

Add this case to:

Del.icio.us

|

Digg

|

Furl

|

References

animaladvocacy.net

« FL State Animal Cruelty Map

Not sure what these icons mean? Click here.

Note: Classifications and other fields should not be used to determine what specific charges the suspect is facing or was convicted of - they are for research and statistical purposes only. The case report and subsequent updates outline the specific charges. Charges referenced in the original case report may be modified throughout the course of the investigation or trial, so case updates, when available, should always be considered the most accurate reflection of charges.

For more information regarding classifications and usage of this database, please visit the database notes and disclaimer.