MISSOURI -- A Hendersonville, Tennessee, woman using a rented truck to haul more than 40 animals — some dead, some sick and dehydrated — was arrested yesterday near St. Louis.
Evelyn Pool, 61, was charged with four counts of animal neglect. Pool was being held in Missouri in lieu of $15,000 bond. The animals were taken to a local animal shelter there.
St. Genevieve County sheriff's officials stopped Pool about 11 a.m. after they received reports that her driving appeared to be impaired because of the load of animals.
A horrid smell wafted from the cab of the rental truck, where there were 12 dogs of different sizes and breeds, said Capt. Mark Maples of the St. Genevieve Sheriff's Department.
''When we stopped her, her clothes were soaked in urine and animal feces,'' Maples said. ''There were dead dogs under the seat that were decaying. The smell was something awful. It was not a pretty sight.''
Deputies found more than 40 dogs, along with cats, rabbits and a pet rat, in the back of the truck. The animals had no food or water, and there were up to four dogs in one small cage, they said. Several animals also were found dead in their cages, and one dog was found dead under the driver's seat of the vehicle.
A Humane Society spokeswoman in St. Louis said it was not clear what Pool was doing with the animals. She told authorities she had been evicted in Tennessee and was driving to Nevada to find work. The St. Genevieve County prosecutor's office said animal abuse and neglect charges would be filed today.
Pool left Tennessee a week ago after Hendersonville police arrested her daughter Christine Davis, 28, and charged her with two counts of child neglect. Police reportedly wanted Pool on similar charges.
Those charges are the result of the discovery that the women and two children, 3 and 8, lived with garbage everywhere and no running water at 144 Glenn Hill Drive, police said.
Police went to the women's home to serve an eviction notice, but the women were not there, said Hendersonville police Lt. Paul Harbsmeier. The officers found.
Davis, who was later apprehended, has since been released from the Sumner County Jail on $1,000 bond. Davis' two children were taken into the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.
Middle Tennessee has recently seen a handful of animal cruelty cases:
• Franklin breeder Jennifer Siliski was indicted last week on animal cruelty charges after 230 purebred dogs and cats were taken from her home Jan. 22.
• Nineteen cats were taken Janis Oberkirsch's home in La Vergne. She pleaded guilty in February to one count of animal cruelty.
• William "Terry" Davis (William Davis, Terry Davis) of Murfreesboro was forced to surrender more than 90 cats in December. He faces 48 charges of animal cruelty.
(The Tennesseean - March 17, 2004)
