On Sept. 16, Howard was charged with four counts of cruelty to animals after Highlands County sheriff's investigators conducted an investigation. The charges are first-degree misdemeanors, court records show.
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| Donnalee Ping holds her nose because of the stench while showing the bird enclosure where she and Stewart Scrimshaw discovered at least 80 parrots, more than 50 of which were dead. |
Court records list the address of Howard's attorney, William Fletcher, but don't list Howard's address.
Jeff McLain, the president of Parrots as Pets Rescue of Orlando, has said it was "by far" the worst case of animal hoarding he had seen in 25-plus years of working as an animal rescuer.
At least 80 parrots were forced to live among rodents, snakes, cockroaches, spiders and other pests that covered the floor of the unventilated makeshift parrot enclosure at 200 Turkey Lane. Some of the dead parrots were reduced to skeletons, and spider webs were so thick they obscured the parrots' cages inside the room, McLain said.
Donnalee Ping and Stewart Scrimshaw became the property's caretakers just days before, after brokering a deal with property owner Sandra Chandler that required them to care for the property in exchange for room and board, and for Ping boarding her horse on the 5-acre property, which has horses, a cow, a pig, four goats and two ducks that are well-kept, Ping said.
Ping said that she and Scrimshaw are no longer taking care of the property, which Chandler had leased to Howard roughly two years ago.
After leasing a portion of the property, Howard erected a 12-foot-by-12-foot structure with posts, metal-screen walls, a plywood roof, tarps that wrapped around the four walls and metal skirting.
"When we opened the door, I immediately began to cry and vomit at the same time," Ping said. "The floor was crawling with roaches and ants and spiders and snakes."
The stench of dead birds was unbearable.
Ping said she "had to go in with a T-shirt wrapped around my face, gloves and a butterfly net" to get to the cages and open them.
The room was unventilated and its temperature was 115 degrees, Ping's mobile phone showed.
The cage latches were rusted shut and about half of the cage doors were turned toward the screen walls.
Ping and Scrimshaw freed 28 parrots, including one that flew away.
McLain and Ping have said Chandler "had nothing to do with this."
Parrots as Pets took in 17 parrots; Florida Parrot Rescue of Tampa took the remaining 10.
The rescue organizations have been working to find permanent homes for the parrots.
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| Karen Jensen Howard |
