Case Snapshot
Case ID: 10826
Classification: Hoarding
Animal: cat, horse, pig, cow, chicken, rodent/small mammal (pet), bird (other farmed)
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Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007


Disposition: Alleged
Case Images: 1 files available

Abuser names unreleased

Surete du Quebec officers conducting a raid on Feb 21 on a rural property near Sorel-Tracy found dozens of pets and farm animals living in filthy conditions with inadequate shelter and little food or water.

The Monteregie Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was tipped off last week by an anonymous caller who said cats and rabbits were being kept outside in freezing temperatures in cages full of excrement, and a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig was crammed into a tiny shed with dozens of chickens.

"The pig could hardly move because the shed was so small and the chickens were constantly pecking at him," said Linda Robertson, director of the Monteregie SPCA, who was present during yesterday's raid.

"We were told (by the caller) that a woman lives in the house ... but when we went to check out the situation, she was never there," Robertson said.

Feb 21 morning, SQ officers executed a search warrant and raided the property, a house and several buildings in St. Robert, about 100 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

Police found one dead foal, two underfed ponies, a horse, the pot-bellied pig, four or five sheep, five Persian cats, half a dozen rabbits and an assortment of fowl, including several peacocks, in and around the sheds on the property, Robertson said.

"The foal hadn't just died or anything; it had been dead for a while and just left there," she said.

Inside the house, the investigators found six purebred dogs - two German shepherds, two pugs and two Doberman pinschers.

The house itself was heavily soiled with dog excrement and urine, Robertson added.

The woman who is alleged to live in the house came home during the raid. Robertson guessed the woman to be in her mid-40s and seemed to be living alone with the animals.

"You try to get a reading on these people, to comprehend why they have these animals when they can't look after them, and it just boggles the mind," Robertson said in a telephone interview.

She said she did not know yet whether the woman was in the business of breeding or selling animals.

The animals have been seized and transported off the property; some went to a shelter for farm animals, while the cats and dogs went to the Monteregie

SPCA. They are to be cared for at the shelters during the police investigation and until a decision is made on whether their owner will be charged with cruelty or negligence.

It could be several months before a case is heard in court, Robertson said.

References

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