Thursday, May 28, 2015

Tupper couple charged with 52 counts of animal cruelty

NEW YORK -- A Tupper Lake couple is facing a combined 52 counts of animal cruelty after police found sick and malnourished cats, chickens and other animals on their property.

The animals have since been removed, given food and water, and are being cared for by the Tri-Lakes Humane Society in Saranac Lake and the North Country Animal Shelter in Malone.

The charges against James A. Beausoleil, 54, and his girlfriend Irene F. Birdou, 62, stem from an investigation of art and furniture that they allegedly stole from a trailer parked outside the Courtyard by Marriott hotel on Cascade Road in Lake Placid.

Beausoleil and Birdou were arrested last week by Lake Placid village police on charges of third-degree grand larceny and fifth-degree conspiracy.



As part of a joint investigation with the Tupper Lake village police, authorities carried out a search warrant at the couple's home at 13 Baker Ave. in Tupper Lake on May 16. They said they found some of the hotel's stolen property in plain view in Beausoleil's yard.

They also found malnourished and sick animals on the property: a dozen cats of various ages from kittens to older adults, plus about a dozen chickens, four pigs and a rabbit. The cats were located both inside and outside the home. The chickens and rabbit were found in small cages outside while the pigs were in an outdoor pen. One of the pigs was dead.

"The animals that were the worst were the cats," Tupper Lake police Chief Eric Proulx told the Enterprise. "All of them, I believe, had respiratory infections. The other animals, the chickens and the rabbit, definitely needed to be seen and were in better health than the cats, but they weren't being fed. We couldn't find anything to feed the animals when we went up."

Proulx said the animals wouldn't have been visible to passersby.

"There's a driveway to the property that's blocked by a gate," he said. "You couldn't really see it unless you walked down to the house. You never would have known the situation with the animals because you couldn't see them."

However, this wasn't the first time authorities had visited the property. Proulx said Beausoleil has been cited numerous times for code enforcement violations for running an illegal junkyard.
On Monday, May 18, Proulx said the department applied for a warrant to seize the animals and contacted Lena Bombard, manager of the Saranac Lake animal shelter, for help.

"It was a pretty sad situation," Bombard told the Enterprise. "I did not see food or water available to any of the animals. Most of the cats and kittens had severe respiratory infections, eye infections, sneezing, and some of their eyes were sealed shut. It wasn't that hard to catch them because they were just sitting there sick."

Bombard said she found three newborn kittens still attached to their mother's placenta. Two of those newborns have since died.

The first day she was there, Bombard said she caught 11 of the cats and brought them to the Lake Placid Animal Hospital for evaluation and medical treatment. She's since caught two other cats but plans to go back for others that are still on the loose.

Roughly a dozen chickens on the property were inside a 5-foot-by-5-foot coop with no food or water, Bombard said.


"They were starved," she said. "They didn't have any free roaming access. It was full of feces. They were obviously malnourished."

The chickens and the pigs, which also didn't have food or water, were eventually removed from the property by Shirley Morton from the Malone animal shelter, and arrangements have also been made for their treatment and care, according to a press release from the Tupper Lake Police Department.
It's only been about a week, but the cats under the Tri-Lakes Humane Society's care are doing better, Bombard said.

"They've been on medications, and they're improving," she said. "You can still tell they're sick, but you can actually see their eyes now, and they're eating and drinking and starting to play."
Proulx said Bombard's help was invaluable to the investigation.

"Lena provided guidance on legal issues surrounding this case and assistance with securing the animals, obtaining the veterinary care that was necessary, providing food for many of the animals until they could be removed from the property and even coming to Tupper Lake in assisting in the feeding and removal of the animals," the chief said in the release.

Neither the village nor town of Tupper Lake currently has a contract with the Humane Society. They lost the organization's services 12 years ago when they declined to help pay for them. The town has a dog control officer but no such services for cats.

"Lena and the Tri-Lakes Humane Society was under no obligation to assist in this investigation but after one phone call was more than happy to step up to the plate and do what was necessary to get these animals out of the horrible conditions they were living in and get them the care and housing they needed," Proulx wrote.

"I also would like to thank Shirley Morton and the North Country Animal Shelter for their assistance in this investigation," Proulx added. "Shirley offered a number of resources to our department and with the assistance of Tupper Lake Code Enforcement Officer Peter Edwards, she too came to Tupper Lake to provide help to these animals and was able to provide care and temporary housing to the animals she removed from the property."

The animals remain under the custody of the Tupper Lake village court, Proulx explained. What ultimately happens to them depends on the outcome of the legal proceedings involving Beausoleil and Birdou, the court and the Franklin County district attorney's office, he said.

Beausoleil and Birdou were arrested at 10:40 p.m. Friday on warrants issued by Tupper Lake village Justice Christopher Delair. Each defendant faces 26 counts of cruelty to animals, one for each animal police seized, under state Agriculture and Markets Law.

Beausoleil and Birdou were each arraigned in village court and remanded to the Franklin County Jail in Malone in lieu of $5,000 cash bail or $10,000 bond. They are scheduled to appear in village court June 15.

(Adirondack Daily Enterprise - May 27, 2015)

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