She wants prosecutors to prove why the dogs should be kept from her and has asked a judge to order a stop to any further surgeries from being performed on them.
“The dogs remain the defendant’s property under law,” court documents say in a motion filed Thursday, “and she did not consent to the Humane Society of the United States scheduling or performing surgery on her dogs.”
Kent Barker of Nashua, who’s representing Tina Fay, has filed pleadings requesting that the dogs be moved to homes where people have experience caring for this type of breed.
“She has a list of homes that dogs could be placed in,” Barker said by phone Friday. “All homes that are good homes that could be investigated and checked out by the state.”
In addition, Barker said he learned this week that six of the Great Danes have undergone eye surgery, which he claimed should have been discussed with Fay beforehand. He also speculated that the disease known as cherry eye might have been inherited rather than caused by neglect.
“We were not told ahead of time,” Barker said, referring to the surgeries. “The dogs remain her property.”
Fay was arrested June 16 after officials were tipped off about unsanitary conditions at her Wolfeboro home, a $1.5 million mansion that sits behind a locked gate.
Wolfeboro police and representatives from the Humane Society of the United States, flown here from their headquarters in Maryland, found walls and floors covered with feces and urine, and maggots spilling from the refrigerator.
Veterinarians later noted a long list of illnesses that the dogs were suffering from, including blindness, skin infections, contagious diseases, cuts and malnutrition.
Fay was charged with two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals, and Wolfeboro police Chief Dean Rondeau has said more charges are expected, which was confirmed in the paperwork filed Thursday.
But Barker said he’s received no official documentation from a medical professional detailing the dogs’ conditions, nor has he been told where the dogs are or what charges may soon surface, information he said he needs to prepare his case.
“We have not even got the final version of the charges yet is what my understanding is,” Barker said. “We don’t know where the dogs are, we don’t know what kind of shape they’re in, we don’t know what the state is alleging what was wrong with the dogs that supports the animal cruelty charge.”
Barker also said that media reports have not told the whole story.
“There’s been so much venom directed at her that has not been supported by real facts,” Barker said. “Is the whole story out there? Absolutely not.”
(Concord Monitor - August 13, 2017)
Earlier:
- New Hampshire: Tina Fay is arrested and 84 Great Danes are rescued from squalid $1.45 million dollar mansion-'turned puppy mill' covered in feces and littered with rotting raw chicken
- New Hampshire: Wolfeboro Police Chief Dean Rondeau describes the horrific sights and smells inside Tina Fay's mansion where 75 neglected Great Danes were being hoarded
- New Hampshire: Tina Fay facing up to 200 neglect charges after 84 Great Danes seized from her property in Wolfeboro
- New Hampshire: Affidavit describes conditions at Tina Fay's Great Dane breeding facility
- New Hampshire: The signs of animal abuse were there at Tina Fay's house, if you looked
- New Hampshire: Veterinarian's signature contradicts medical exams on Great Danes in Tina Fay animal cruelty case
