Fifty-four-year-old Joseph C. Wenzel Jr. was arrested and charged with 44 counts of animal abuse and one count of falsely reporting. Seventy-seven-year-old Joseph C. Wenzel Sr. was arrested and charged with 44 counts of animal abandonment and is awaiting arraignment.
Many of the Chihuahuas and Jack Russell Terriers were in poor health. All 44 of them had been crammed into three small crates, each crate meant to only hold one dog, and the animals were covered with filth and feces. One of the dogs was dead.
On April 26th, Batavia Police received a complaint of a barking dog on Thorpe Street. Officers checked the scene and observed about eight dogs. The homeowner did not answer the door and a contact card was left at the door.
The Wyoming County Sheriff’s office says Wenzel Jr. called 911 on April 28th, saying someone left 50 dogs in his Bank Road driveway, in the Town of Middlebury. He said he fed the dogs and the animals were contained. Police responded and decided not to move the dogs until the morning.
The next day, deputies removed the dogs from the residence. Police say an investigation revealed that Joseph Wenzel Sr. had dropped off the dogs to the residence. He told officers he could not take care of the animals any longer. Wenzel Jr. was taken to Wyoming County Jail on $10,000 bail.
[This does not make sense. They say the police "found" the dogs abandoned and stuffed into crates. However, this story says that the police "responded and decided not to move the dogs until the morning" -- are you telling me the police saw these dogs stuffed inside crates and left them there???]
(WIVB - May 9, 2013)
Earlier:
