Officials said the "Dirty Dozen" are wanted for a number of charges involving the abuse and abandonment of animals.
All 12 of the people on the list have arrest warrants out for them.
Among the suspects are a mother and daughter. Charlotte Mae and Christa Badgley are accused of abandoning sick cats and dogs in a trailer piled with filth.
Dale Channell was already convicted of animal cruelty for leaving animals to freeze to death, and investigators fear he has killed again. They said a parrot in his care went missing and is presumed dead.
Capital Area Humane Society Chief Humane Agent Kerry Manion said they seized a malnourished dog in east Columbus on Tuesday, after they were unable to find his owner.
"He was tangled around a back porch railing, no food, no water," Manion said. "You can see he is visibly thin."
Of the 6,000 cases agents investigate each year, about 50 to 60 result in criminal charges, said Manion.
"The ones that actually make me the angriest are the animal abandonment cases, because these animals cannot fend for themselves," said Columbus Assistant City Attorney Bill Hedrick. "And we're lucky these are cases where the animals were still alive."
Hedrick said animal abandonment charges peaked about five years ago, during the height of the housing crisis, when people were evicted and simply left their animals behind. But, he said, they have not declined since.
Anyone with information on any of these individuals is asked to contact Bill Hedrick at 614-645-8874 or brhedrick@columbus.gov.
(10tv - July 17, 2013)
