Kathy Hart, 42, and James Hart, 52, have been released from the Carroll County Jail on $5,000 bond each. Walter Smothers, Huntingdon Police Department director of safety, said officers found the animals when they tried to serve a warrant on Kathy Hart after she failed to appear in General Sessions Court.
Smothers said no one answered the door when officers knocked, but police saw what looked like animal feces on the floor of the front two rooms of the home, and a female pit bull that had recently had puppies.
Kathy Hart said police and animal control or rescue officials did not make an attempt to contact her.
"We were there every other day feeding and watering the dogs," Hart said. "They never tried to contact us before entering our home. All the dogs have collars with their names and our cell phone number on them."
Smothers said the officers did not see any food or water for the pit bull, and other dogs outside the house appeared to have water-soaked food and rainwater.
Kathy Hart said she and her husband kept 50-pound bags of dog food in the house, and a large bowl of water she and her husband kept full for the dogs living in the yard.
Officers returned with a warrant to search the home for additional animals that may have been neglected, Smothers said.
James and Kathy Hart were charged Monday. Smothers said Kathy Hart is also charged with failure to appear from the original warrant officers had attempted to serve at the home. She said she is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday.
According to a news release from the nonprofit Animal Rescue Corps, 13 chihuahuas, two pit bull-type dogs, a Norwich terrier, and litters of puppies were found at the home without adequate food or water. The dogs were loose in the home, with what Smothers said appeared to be "a large amount of feces," or chained and penned outside, according to the release.
One puppy was found dead in the home, and many of the dogs and puppies showed signs of neglect, including mange, dehydration, intestinal worms, external parasites, runny eyes and alopecia, according to Animal Rescue Corps. All of the dogs have been placed in the care of Animal Rescue Corps until a custody hearing is held.
"The dog they say has mange had been taken to the vet and was taking medication and cared for," Kathy Hart said. "He had been given medicine, and our vet that we took him to said he didn't have mange."
She said the puppy that was dead in the home had been sick, but she and her husband had taken the dog to the vet three or four days prior to the rescue shelter taking the dogs.
"He was being given medicine," she said.
Hart said she didn't argue that there was animal feces in the house, but said she and her husband had been cleaning as they were home from taking care of her mother-in-law, who recently had surgery.
"I know there was some in the house, and I'm not going to argue that," she said. "We cleaned that up."
Kathy Hart said she and her husband have one vehicle, and friends had been bringing them to the house when they were able to come by to check on the dogs. She said sometimes it was just her, with no vehicles in the driveway, and sometimes it was late at night when her neighbors would have been asleep.
Still, Hart said, her dogs had not been abandoned.
"We've been back and forth feeding them and taking care of them," she said. "Whenever we can get away is when we go. This has gotten blown way out of proportion. The pictures they're showing aren't 100 percent truth."
Kathy Hart said some of the dogs were left at the house, and she and her husband had been trying to find them homes with other people. One of the dogs she said was taken had been hers for almost 16 years.
"I'm glad these people will find those dogs homes," she said. "It's just heartbreaking."
(Jackson Sun - April 5, 2016)
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