Last Monday, authorities executed an administrative warrant at 658 Stevens St. and inspected the home.
Inside, they found five Maltese dogs with matted fur, living in a cluttered space covered with feces and urine.
The owner of the home, Margaret Gardner, told authorities that she was taking care of the dogs for Kim LeMaire, who was found in a Red Roof Inn room in Framingham last month along with 19 filthy Maltese dogs.
Immediately after the five dogs were taken from the Marlborough home, Marlborough Code Enforcement Officer Pam Wilderman said she was authorizing the police to initiate a complaint against Gardner for animal cruelty. Wilderman and police officers said this week that those charges will not go through.
Last Thursday, Gardner signed custody of the dogs over to the Animal Rescue League of Boston. Wilderman said that Gardner has dogs of her own that are in good condition and properly licensed, so authorities decided to back off the animal cruelty charges as long as the five dogs found at the home were turned over to the proper authorities.
Marlborough Police spokesman Detective Scott DeCiero confirmed on Wednesday that the department will not seek animal cruelty charges against Gardner.
After the dogs were removed from the home, they were taken to the Foster Hospital for Small Animals at the Tufts University Cummings School for Veterinary Medicine. They are now at the Animal Rescue League’s Boston shelter, said Animal Rescue League spokeswoman Ami Bowen.
Bowen said the five dogs are currently being treated for a "pretty wide range of medical issues," although she said further information on their condition wasn’t immediately available.
After they were initially treated, Wilderman had said that one of the dogs is pregnant. This week, she said two are pregnant. She also reported after the dogs were taken from the home that one of them had white dog shaker syndrome, which causes full body tremors in some smaller breeds.
Bowen said on Wednesday that the League is doing what it can to get the dogs healthy and ready for adoption, but those efforts are costly. She said the organization is setting up a fundraising page to help pay for the treatment of the five Marlborough dogs.
(The MetroWest Daily News - Aug 29 2013)
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