Pet-Abuse.Com - Animal Abuse Case Details: 14 cats abandoned in sub-zero temperatures

14 cats abandoned in sub-zero temperatures
Exeter, NH (US)

Incident Date: Wednesday, Jan 7, 2004
County: Rockingham
Local Map: available
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 1 files available

Abuser/Suspect: Carol Rowe

Case Updates: 3 update(s) available

Case ID: 2051

Classification: Neglect / Abandonment

Animal: cat

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An Exeter woman charged with abandoning 14 cats in her mobile home during sub-zero temperatures, resulting in the death of two kittens, pleaded not guilty to animal-cruelty charges Wednesday in Exeter District Court.

Carol Rowe, 45, appeared in court for an arraignment on the 10 charges. A petite woman with short brown hair, Rowe dressed in a short black skirt and green blazer for her court appearance. She did not have an attorney but indicated to the court clerk�s office that she would like to apply for a public defender.

Because the charges are misdemeanors, they will be handled at the district court level. The next step in the case is a probable-cause hearing, but a date had not been set as of press time.

Rowe was arrested by Exeter police in January after finding the abandoned cats inside her former mobile home on Wayland Circle with no food or water. Two kittens inside had already died and an autopsy revealed it was because of starvation.

Rowe has previously declined to comment on the case. She told authorities she had been checking on the cats, which she allegedly left in the building after it was foreclosed. She told them that she had unhooked a hose from a clothes dryer and used the dryer to give the animals some heat, he said. But authorities have said it was evident that the cats had not been fed.

Since the cats were found Jan. 7, four adult cats and two kittens had to be euthanized at the N.H. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Stratham. The cats, which had upper respiratory infections, fleas and ear mites, were initially wild and unable to be treated by shelter staff.

Rowe told authorities that she had initially been given two cats as a present but couldn�t afford to spay or neuter them. All of the cats that were found inside the residence were believed to be related and most had turned wild, or feral, according to Steve Sprowl, cruelty investigator for the SPCA.

Case Updates

Rowe is a former paralegal. She has voluntarily surrendered 3 additional cats, which she took with her from the mobile home in the Lindenshire Mobile Home Park bringing the total number of cats owned by Rowe to 17.

Rowe told authorities she had been checking on the cats. She told them she had unhooked a hose from a clothes dryer and used the dryer to give the animals some heat. The investigation revealed that the cats were without food for a long time. Some of the kittens, which appeared to be 2 weeks old, were determined to be 7 weeks old. 2 kittens were found dead in the mobile home, the necropsy found they died from starvation.

The 4 adult cats and 2 kittens rescued had to be euthanized. All the cats had upper respiratory infections, fleas and ear mites.
All the cats that were found inside the residence were believed to be related and most had turned wild (feral).

The case was reported to the Exeter Police Crimeline after bank officials went to the mobile home, which was going to be auctioned.

When Rowe was arrested she was released from police custody on $5000 personal recognizance bail.

Update posted on May 13, 2004 - 1:06PM

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Rowe was found guilty on 4/22/04 in Exeter District Court after pleading no contest to a charge of animal cruelty to avoid a trial. Rowe had pleaded not guilty to 10 charges during her arraignement, but the charges were since consolidated into a single animal cruelty charge to which she entered her no contest plea.

As part of a negotiated sentence recommendation, police prosecutors asked the court to give Rowe a 6 month jail sentence, suspended for 1 year on good behavior. Rowe would also be required to pay a $500 fine with $350 suspended.

Rowe's lawyer recommended she be allowed to perform 30 hours of community service in lieu of the fine. Rowe would also have to pay $3265 in restitution to the NHSPCA.

Judge Cullen decided to hold off on accepting the sentence recommendations until a pre-sentence investigation is performed by the probation department. This investigation could take as long as 60 days.

Rowe had told authorities she had been checking on the cats, which she left in the mobile home at 6 Wayland Circle, after it was foreclosed. Authorities said the cats clearly had not been fed. 2 kittens were found dead after suffering from starvation. After the cats were rescued, 4 adult cats and 2 kittens had to be euthanized.

Rowe had initially been given 2 cats as a present, but couldn't afford to spay or neuter them.

Update posted on May 13, 2004 - 12:37PM

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Rowe pleaded no contest yesterday to animal cruelty after abandoning more than a dozen cats at a mobile home where she had lived.

Rowe's lawyer told Judge Laurence Cullen in Exeter District Court that his client had become ill with an unspecified "short-term disability" that left her unable to care for the cats, some of which died of starvation.

"She was barely able to care for herself because of her illness," said Ted Lothstein.

She lost the home when she was unable to pay the mortgage, he said, and remains out of work and collecting disability payments.

She pleaded no contest, he said, as an acknowledgment that she took the wrong course regarding the cats.

�The SPCA would have taken the cats alive,� Cullen told Rowe.

As described by David Mooney, Exeter�s town prosecutor, during the brief hearing, several of the cats had died by the time authorities went to the home on Wayland Circle on Jan. 7 in response to an Exeter Crime Line tip. Rowe had also moved out of the home by then. The surviving cats were brought to the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Stratham.

In a negotiated sentence, Mooney recommended a six-month jail term, suspended as long as Rowe stays out of legal trouble for a year. She also would be fined $500, with $350 of it suspended, and pay the SPCA $3,265 in restitution for the care of the cats.

"I would say that if she hadn�t been suffering from this illness that that sentence would be too lenient," said Lothstein.

Cullen found Rowe guilty, but, concerned that the sentencing recommendation might be too light, delayed sentencing until probation officials can compile a background report on Rowe.

Source: Update posted on Apr 22, 2004 - 11:20PM

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14 cats abandoned in sub-zero temperaturesExeter, NH (US)

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14 cats abandoned in sub-zero temperatures
Exeter, NH (US)