MISSISSIPPI --- Three Horn Lake residents are on house arrest after they were convicted on animal cruelty charges in the deaths of an adult dog and three puppies.
"We are really trying to crack down on this," said Dep. Asst. Director Cole Freeman of the Horn Lake Animal Shelter.
Sabrina LaShell Bell, 30 and Jerry Bell, 36, were sentenced to 30 days house arrest after animal control officers found an emaciated Rottweiler in their backyard.
Authorities tell The Commercial Appeal that an animal control officer first issued warning to the Bells. About a month later, officers returned to the Bell home, where the owner refused to allow officers access to her backyard. Police were called to help remove the dogs.
The dog had developed edema, or fluid built up in his body, and eventually had to be put down.
"We would take him out for his daily walk and he was so weak, his legs buckled and he was falling onto his face," Freeman said.
In addition to house arrest, the Bells each must pay $1,249.25 in fines and court costs.
In an unrelated case, Crystal Monique Milligan, 26, was guilty of animal cruelty after animal control officers found three decomposing puppies in a kennel in her backyard.
"Once I took the blanket off, four little heads popped up. They were totally like cardboard — covered in dried feces, urine and decomposition from lying on top of their three dead siblings," said shelter director Frances Williams.
Milligan was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest, $2,128 in fines and court costs and $410 in restitution to the Horn Lake Animal Shelter for the care and upkeep of the adult dog and the four surviving puppies. All five have been adopted.
In both the Milligan and Bell cases, callers tipped off officials.
(Commercial Appeal - October 18, 2012)
