Hoarding over 100 animals, 82 cats seized
Cochecton, NY (US)Incident Date: Friday, Aug 24, 2007
County: Sullivan
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Gloria Smith
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Since her house burned to the ground last year, Gloria Smith has kept dozens of cats in small wire cages on her property.
At first, she stacked them under a blue tarp in the backyard, but since the winter, they've been in the cellar.
Dozens of dogs and cats were killed in last year's fire. At the time, authorities could find no reason to remove her nearly 200 surviving dogs and cats.
On Aug 24, though, deputies came with a court order to seize 82 cats in response to a cruelty complaint. Animal neglect charges are pending, deputies say.
Smith, who had been at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla since Sunday, checked herself out yesterday after learning that deputies had come to take her cats.
With EKG leads attached to her chest, Smith drove up just before the deputies took the first lot of 10 cats out of the cellar.
She parked, closed the door of her SUV and started yelling at one of her two kennel attendants, and pointing her finger at Sullivan County sheriff's Deputy Debra Hall, an animal cruelty investigator.
Cats were pacing, licking their paws, or lying down on urine-soaked newspapers in the cages. One black-and-tan-colored cat had lost most of its hair around the tail and legs. Its remaining hair was matted and soaked with grime. Three cats were taken to a vet for evaluation.
"What's wrong with them?" Hall told Smith. "Urine. Feces. Disease."
Smith's private shelter is called Bennie's Buddies. She says she gets money from three wealthy benefactors from New York City. After last year's fire, she spent thousands of dollars on a tombstone with the engraved names of 19 dead dogs.
Smith has long been accused by neighbors of being an animal hoarder, and has fought the Town of Cochecton for years. Town officials say her shelter breaks the kennel law. In May, the town taped a violation notice to a tree at the front of her driveway.
"I have always feared this day, if I got sick," Smith said, walking toward the cellar. "What would happen? What would happen?"
It is unclear what will happen to Smith's 60 dogs. They live in outside kennels, and in four campers and one trailer on the property at 107 Pinewood Road.
It is also unclear what will happen to most of the cats. Deputies couldn't find a place to put them. Bethel's animal control officer took 10 cats.
The SPCA tentatively agreed to take 30. The Town of Liberty, where the county takes seized and stray dogs, refused to take the cats.
Smith was charged with 82 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and issued an appearance ticket for Town of Cochecton Court.
Case UpdatesGloria Smith can keep her enormous collection of dogs -- for now.
The Cochecton woman accused of cruelty for keeping dozens of cats stacked in urine-soaked cages in a cellar won't be forced to surrender her 60 dogs.
The county, however, will seek a court order to prevent Smith from taking more animals, District Attorney Steve Lungen said.
The dogs live in outside cages on the property and appear to be fed and have adequate shelter.
On Friday, deputies scrambled to find a place to put Smith's 82 cats. Deputies couldn't reach the SPCA and were calling around to town dog control officers.
Eventually, all of the cats were taken to Liberty Animal Control Officer Joann Gerow's farm and were seen by a vet over the weekend. None of the cats had to be put down. The county is paying Gerow $125 a day to look after the cats.
Smith's cellar - a hot, dark room built under a partially framed house - lacked ventilation, Undersheriff Eric Chaboty said. The cages were stacked two and three high on concrete blocks. Cats were urinating and defecating on themselves, lying on filthy newspapers.
Smith was in the hospital for a week. One of her two kennel workers was tending to the cats.
"After a couple of days of that, it is animal cruelty," Chaboty said.
For years, Smith's neighbors have called her an animal hoarder, a person who obsessively collects animals.
Smith made headlines in May 2006 when her home burned to the ground, killing dozens of dogs and cats. She says she gets money from wealthy benefactors.
Since the fire, she has been building a new house and gathering more dogs and cats, even as the Town of Cochecton has cited her for violations of its kennel law.
State inspectors have no authority to inspect Smith's property or close the private shelter, dubbed Bennie's Buddies.
Private shelters are held to no standard beyond the cruelty statutes.
"You don't just shut someone down," Lungen said. "There is a presumption of innocence until it has run its course." | Source: Times Record-Online - Aug 28, 2007
Update posted on Aug 28, 2007 - 11:42PM |
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