RUSKIN, Fla. (WFTS)—Authorities tell ABC Action News they found the woman suspected of dumping her pets on the side of the road in Ruskin.
Critter Adoption and Rescue Effort, or C.A.R.E. Animal Shelter, told ABC Action News that the woman tried to surrender 10 cats and an elderly dog in the morning of June 4 along 27th Street. The shelter told the woman they couldn’t accept the pets because the shelter was full.
The woman was then caught on camera dumping all 11 of the pets on the side of the road. Authorities say they found the woman but did not release her identity.
UPDATE: pet owner has been found. I’m told Hillsborough County will file animal abandonment (misdemeanor) charges for each pet. @abcactionnews https://t.co/dwhErMaXXU
— Ryan Smith (@RyanReports) June 6, 2019
ABC Action News was told Hillsborough County plans to charge the woman with 11 counts of animal abandonment, which is a misdemeanor charge.
“She didn’t know what to do and didn’t think it was illegal to abandon the animals,” said investigator Roger Mills. “There’s always options. There’s hundreds of rescues out there. If you go online, people will come to you.”
Animal investigators told ABC Action News that most of the animals left on the side of the road have been found and will be up for adoption at a pet resource center. Investigators say they are still looking for “a couple of cats and the elderly dog.”
UPDATE: pet owner has been found. I’m told Hillsborough County will file animal abandonment (misdemeanor) charges for each pet. @abcactionnews https://t.co/dwhErMaXXU
— Ryan Smith (@RyanReports) June 6, 2019
Most of the cats are now being cared for the Hillsborough County’s Pet Resource Center. Even though they are over capacity, the facility will never turn away an animal being surrendered.
Woman Pleads Guilty to Animal Cruelty
Two weeks ago, a woman in Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to six counts of animal cruelty charges for “debarking” her dogs.
Annie Beiler, 47, was required to surrender almost all of her dogs to the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, according to the plea accepted by Judge Howard Knisely on Thursday, May 24, via Lancaster Online.
Annie Beiler, 47, will serve two years of probation, surrender her dogs to the PSPCA, and be barred from owning, caring for or working with dogs for two years after pleading guilty to animal cruelty charges Thursday in Lancaster County Court. https://t.co/EdAfzv05NQ
— WPMT FOX43 (@fox43) May 23, 2019
Beiler was also prohibited from owning, possessing, or having any dogs in her control or custody, and is not allowed to perform any work involving the care of dogs, according to the authorities.
Beiler had obtained the services of formerly licensed Iowa veterinarian, Denise Felling, to debark the dogs, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office.
The debarking process involves “shoving a rod-like object into the dogs’ vocal chambers,” according to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office. The manner in which Felling did the “debarking procedures was illegal,” according to authorities.
DISTURBING: “The manner of how she did the debarking procedures is illegal.”https://t.co/eE2bq9lVgR
— WICS ABC 20 (@wics_abc20) May 25, 2019
Felling was also charged and pleaded guilty, officials said. Felling was sentenced up to 23 months in prison and released on credit for time served, according to Lancaster Online. Authorities said Felling told Beiler she was a veterinarian but never obtained a license in Pennsylvania. According to officials, her license in Iowa was revoked.
NTD reporter Tiffany Meier contributed to this report.
