Checotah man charged with animal cruelty after more than 30 dogs found starving, filthy at his home

OKLAHOMA -- A Checotah man faces 10 counts of animal cruelty after authorities rescued dozens of dogs from his home.

Deputies from the McIntosh County Sheriff's Office arrested 62-year-old Jackie Welch after they received a complaint about animal neglect.

In an affidavit, a deputy says when he went to investigate the complaint, he saw several dogs in the yard as well as one already dead and decaying.

He wrote in the affidavit, "There was a foul odor coming from the residence that smelled of fecal matter, urine and decaying carcasses."

 

 

 

Upon closer inspection, the deputy says in the affidavit that he also saw several dogs in cages inside the home that were "clearly neglected to the point of near starvation."

Deputies got a search warrant and called in local firefighters to help remove the animals. Because of the overwhelming smell, the deputy says in the affidavit that the men "removed the dogs while wearing hazardous material suits with external breathing apparatus."

Deputies called volunteers at the Checotah Animal Shelter to help find temporary shelter for more than 30 dogs rescued from the home.

"All, except for a few, were in cages," says Kate Paris, the director of the Checotah Animal Shelter. "Most of the cages were too small, and they had a lot of urine and feces in there about six inches deep."

 

Paris says none of the dogs had any food or water, and most of them had very little hair left on them because of all the fleas. She says many of the dogs are now blind or suffer from serious eye problems due to the amount of animal waste found in the home.

Paris says she dealt with only two other animal cruelty cases that could compare to this one.
"This is the worst (though)," she says. "This is the worst."

Despite their terrible condition of the animals, Paris says they proved to be friendly and even joyful to see her and the other volunteers.

 

 

"I've never seen anything like it -- they were so happy," she says. "It was like they just couldn't believe that somebody was helping them."

A few of the dogs are now staying at the Checotah Animal Shelter, while Paris sent some of the worst cases to foster homes as well as another shelter in Eufaula. She says the dogs are nowhere ready to adopt, and most of them will end up going to a shelter in Colorado for animals with special needs.

(KJRH - Oct 29, 2014)