Hoarding 30 dogs, cats, birds, more Mansfield, OH (US) Incident Date: Wednesday, Mar 21, 2007 County: Richland Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Alleged: Cleonnia P. Hall

Case ID: 11047 Classification: Hoarding Animal: cat, horse, cow, raccoon, rodent/small mammal (pet) View more cases in OH (US) Suspect was in animal welfare field Login to Watch this Case

Cleonnia P. "Patty" Hall says she'll fight attempts by the Humane Society of Richland County to take her to court on animal cruelty charges.

Hall, 34, of 1283 Olivesburg Road, said she's taken in animals out of love since she was 17 and has been an animal foster care provider for the Humane Society for three years.

"I will fight them tooth and nail in the court until I win -- because I never have been cruel to my animals," she said.

Hall was charged March 21 in Mansfield Municipal Court with second-degree misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. She has hired an attorney.

Humane Society agent Missy Houghton did not identify Hall by name or address, but said in a front-page story that a pending court case involves a woman who kept about 30 dogs, two cats, birds, a ferret, a raccoon, a miniature pony and a quarter horse in or near her house. Many of the animals were removed by the Humane Society after an investigation by the Richland County Sheriff's Department, Houghton said.

The horses, which Hall said she took to a nearby barn she had been renting, were not removed.

Hall said Humane Society officials who seized other animals told her at first she could have 10 of her 30 dogs back.

"I said, 'Go ahead, find them homes.' I knew I had too many," Hall said.

But Hall said Houghton later allowed only five dogs to return. Hall said she agreed to sign off on the rest of the dogs, only because some animals the Humane Society said it would return were pit bulls, hard-to-place animals that are illegal in Mansfield.

Hall said she felt "blackmailed."

"Those animals were my life," she said. "I had to choose. Do you know how heartbreaking that is? When they're all sitting there crying and screaming? I take such good care of my dogs. I have never been cruel to my animals.

"They took two barn cats. What did they have to do with anything? They were strays."

Sheriff's reports said animals ran loose in Hall's house amid feces.

"My animals were in there for 12 solid hours, without anybody letting me into the house to feed them or take them outside," Hall said. "Of course there was pee and poop in the house."

Friends of Hall called the News Journal on Friday, defending her and objecting to Humane Society and sheriff's report descriptions of the investigation. Neither Hall's name nor her address was included in Friday's story, which primarily focused on a plea from the Humane Society to find foster care providers for animals.

Hall called to say she doesn't mind talking about her case, and wanted people to know she thinks the Humane Society went after her "for the money."

She paid $800 to get the five dogs back, and the Humane Society now is free to sell the other dogs, she said.

"She is selling my dogs for $175 apiece," Hall said. "They're making about five grand off my animals right now."

Hall defended her record.

"I have a kennel tag. I had a permit for my raccoon. ... I have a vendor's license to raise and sell animals. The (Humane Society) are out to shut down anybody that is doing that," she said.

"My name is out there on the wall (on a certificate) for Partners for Pets," a list of people who have helped the Humane Society, she said.

Hall said she has provided animal foster care for Humane Society dogs about 20 times.

"They would bring me a dog with maybe 10 puppies. I would bottle-feed them and raise them, then they would take the dogs and sell them," Hall said.

The 34-year-old nurse's aide said she may have triggered the recent investigation after she called the dog warden's office, where she knows staff members, to say she thought she had taken too many animals and needed to find homes for some.

Hall said she's OK with letting many of the animals go to other homes, but misses some longtime pets. And she wants 10 dogs back, not five.

"It's just a big mess and a big misunderstanding," she said.

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Central Ohio - March 24, 2007

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