Diana Gregoire and Robert Pettit have been charged with 11 counts of cruelty to animals and one count of maintaining a public nuisance.
When the property at 1017 Water Street of Gregoire and Pettit was raided, the authorities seized 16 dogs including nine newborn puppies, several cats and four kittens. The animals were found to be confined in a cruel manner and they did not have proper food, drink and shelter.
Chaining the dogs to junked cars, failing to clean up after the dogs, and allowing several cats to run around the neighborhood resulted in the one count of maintaining a public nuisance.
Neighbors had filed many complaints about the property since March 8 which eventually led to the raid of the property Friday evening. The complaints were for foul odors coming from the property, dogs chained on short leashes, forced to lie in their own excrement, empty water dishes and inadequate shelter for the animals.
There were several adult dogs on 3-foot long chains and no water for most of the dogs. Nine puppies were in a shallow hole in direct sunlight. The newborn puppies mother was chained to a nearby fence, she didn't have any water and could hardly reach her puppies because of the chain.
Four kittens were located in a box in a junk vehicle.
All the seized animals were turned over to the Bitter Root Humane Association's animal shelter. The animals will stay there until the case is resolved. Gregoire and Pettit will be ordered to appear at a Justice Court hearing May 12.
The cats and dogs were checked out by veterinarians and most of them were rated in fair to good condition. Some of the dogs were underweight. A few of the puppies and dogs had fevers. The kittens suffered from bad colds.
The mother dog had an open sore around her neck and other dogs had neck scars from their chains. Seat belts were used as collars and some of them were cinched too tightly around the animals necks.
Most of the concern for animals was for the lack of water, inadequate shelter, confining them to small cages and living in an unkempt area. Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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