Authorities have seized 100 dogs from an Ohio woman where they were left to roam around with missing ligaments, lived with little food and water, and were made to walk on feces-lined floors
Bernice Robertson, was scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Athens County Municipal Court on a misdemeanor charge of cruelty against a companion animal.
The charge against the 76-year-old alleges that she kept a large number of dogs at her residence and ‘failed to provide veterinary care, failed to provide sufficient exchange of fresh air, failed to provide normal grooming and failed to clean fecal matter and urine from the dwelling’.
County Dog Warden Mary Beth Brown said none of the dogs had life-threatening health problems despite living in squalid conditions.
The home in Coolville was deemed uninhabitable by the Athens City-County Health Department last week after the warrant was executed.
Authorities have seized 100 dogs from Bernice Robertson, 76, and have said she was keeping them in unsanitary conditions. She was arraigned Friday on a misdemeanor charge of cruelty against a companion animal after many of the dogs (including one pictured) were found to be living in squalid conditions
According to The Athens News, Brown testified that she and law enforcement found that the floor was covered in feces and the smell of ammonia was so strong that they had to wear face masks.
The temperature inside the home was 100 degrees and the dogs had multiple health conditions including missing ears, missing toes, eye injuries, skin conditions, and overgrown toenails, but none were life-threatening.
Investigators said they found 17 dogs in cages without water and the rest loose in the home.
‘They were not skinny, and had good body conditions, but some of them have injuries, and they have very poor skin condition,’ Brown told the newspaper. ‘They were very, very dirty.’
Athens County Municipal Judge Todd Grace ordered a $20,000 bond in order to help the county pay for the costs of housing and caring for the seized dogs, which was calculated at about $1,000 per day for the 100 dogs, or $30,000 per month.
The temperature inside the home (pictured) was 100 degrees and the dogs had multiple health conditions including missing ears, missing toes, eye injuries, skin conditions, and overgrown toenails, but none were life-threatening.
Eliason explained that if Robertson doesn’t post the cash deposit or the bond, the ‘impounding agency’ can determine what will happen to the dogs, unless the court issues an order that specifies otherwise.
The idea is that the dogs – who are being cleaned up, fed and having their medical issues taken care of at the Dog Shelter – can be adopted out if that bond is not posted.
Eliaon also testified that neighbors has reported seeing Robertson burying dead dogs.
Brown said the conditions that the dogs were being kept in have been generating complaints for ‘a few years’.
In October, according to Brown, the Athens County Humane Society sponsored a spay-neuter clinic at Robertson’s home, during which 43 dogs were spayed or neutered after initially only expecting to receive 18.
The dogs were passed through the doorway, and the clinic’s workers were not allowed inside the home.