Rhode Island: Rescued Smithfield dogs waiting for court decision; Michael Williams and Michael Ramos each charged with 25 counts of Animal Cruelty

RHODE ISLAND -- The Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is reporting that the English Bulldogs and French bulldogs rescued on March 20 from a Smithfield home at 189 Pleasant View Ave. are not available for adoption or foster care due to pending court proceedings.

 

 

The rescued animals included more than 25 dogs and puppies, more than 100 snakes, and rats. They are all in the custody of Smithfield Animal Control and shelters in North Providence and Burrillville.

Thomas Taylor, Smithfield Animal Control Warden, said the local shelter took in a total of eight dogs, four of which are puppies. The RISPCA took in four pregnant females, according to Taylor, because they have more resources to care for the dogs.

 

 

 

Until a decision is made in the case, the dogs will remain in the custody of animal control and the RISPCA, but Taylor said he hopes ownership of the animals is relinquished and the pups can go to proper, caring homes.

“We’re going to wait it out, it all depends on the judges and what they decided. We’ll see if a judge can get them to hand them over,” Taylor said.

 

 

Two arrests were made in the case, charging Michael Williams (aka Mike Williams, Omar Williams) and Michael Ramos (aka Noel Ramos, Mike Ramos) each with 25 counts of unnecessary cruelty to animals and conspiracy, according to Taylor. Reports that the dogs were standing in their own waste were made following the rescue, and the house was condemned.

Taylor refers to the specialized breed as “Little Bulldozers,” and said each dog has a great temperament in spite of their history. He estimated the puppies would have sold for between $2,500 and $3,500.

 

 

Adoption applications are not being accepted at this time, but Taylor said calls inquiring for the pups have not stopped since the arrests. He said until a decision is made, he can’t hold the dogs for adoption either.

Thankfully, he said, the community supported the shelter, and food and monetary donations have not stopped. He asked that any checks be made out to the RISPCA, as they are handling the costs of any veterinary services the animals receive.

“We’re all working together, all the local shelters are working together on this one,” he said.

He said a situation such as this brings out the best in the community, and the shelter is in good shape when it comes to collars and leashes.

Smithfield held an emergency animal shelter supply drive last Saturday, March 24, collecting cleaning supplies, pet food, dog shampoo, leashes, and collars. Taylor said the community “really helped us out,” and it was a great effort.

 

 

(Valley Breeze - March 28, 2018)

Earlier:

• Rhode Island: Animal control removes dogs, rats and snakes from Smithfield home
• Rhode Island: Animal cruelty suspect Michael Williams was already on probation for animal cruelty

Rhode Island: Korina Ferreira, 40, Charged with Animal Cruelty for the 2nd time after dead and live animals found suffering inside filthy home

RHODE ISLAND -- A woman faces 17 charges of unnecessary animal cruelty after authorities removed 17 dogs from a building in Woonsocket, where police also found 16 live chickens, a dead pig, a dead chicken and a dead bird, according to the Woonsocket police.

Korina Ferreira, 40, of 68 Etna St., Fall River, was charged after the police went to a house at 36 Cottage Street for a report of an animal problem and found the 17 dogs, including eight 3-week-old puppies, in a second-floor apartment with feces covering the floor and an overwhelming smell of urine, according to a police statement. 

The building had no running water or electricity.

Conditions in the building were “uninhabitable to animals or humans,” said E.J. Finocchio, president of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which sent two investigators to the property. Finocchio said one of those investigators told him “it was the worst situation he has faced in the eight years he’s been doing animal cruelty investigations, and we’ve seen some bad ones.”

The police were called to the address at about 7 p.m. by a neighbor who’d reporting seeing “a dog on the roof of the property,” according to a statement from Woonsocket Patrol Officer Steven A. Langevin.

“Upon arrival I observed what appeared to be a barking dog on a landing directly outside a window on the second floor of 36 Cottage St.,” Langevin wrote.

The neighbor told the police she thought the building had been abandoned because she hadn’t seen anyone there for more than a year, and Langevin wrote that police dispatch informed him that the address was on the city’s vacant building list. He also found a notice from National Grid on the first-floor front door informing the second-floor occupants that the electricity had been shut off.

Walking around the residence, Langevin saw two dogs poking their heads out a second-floor window. He also saw evidence that somebody had been living there.

“As I looked into the windows of the first floor, I observed what appeared to be feces and massive amounts of clutter within the apartment,” he wrote. “I could clearly hear the sounds of multiple dogs barking from the second floor apartment.”

When nobody inside the house answered their calls, the police decided to enter the building because of their concern for the welfare of the animals. As they were trying to get inside, Ferreira arrived. She told the police that she “sometimes” lived on the second floor. She said her mother owned the property.

Ferreira entered the building with police officers. When Ferreira moved a refrigerator that had been blocking the living room, “approximately 7 dogs came running out of the living room, stampeding towards Police,” Langevin wrote. “The dogs appeared to be extremely dirty and covered in filth, urine and fecal matter,” Langevin wrote.

“I observed one dog bite into a gallon of water as it drank from it frantically,” Langevin wrote.

Most of the dogs appeared to be “pit bull-type” dogs, according to Finocchio.

Some of the dogs ran into the backyard, according to Woonsocket Sgt. Sean A. Carpenter.

“The dogs immediately started looking for water and started drinking from pools of water from various pieces of trash in the yard,” Carpenter said. He said some of the dogs appeared skinny, they did not have any apparent injuries.

According to Carpenter, Ferreira told the police that she’d been keeping her animals in the house since summer until she could find new housing for themr. She told the police she brought water to them nightly.

The dogs were taken to three different shelters — North Smithfield, Woonsocket and Warwick — according to Finocchio.

Ferreira was arrested late Thursday night and arraigned in District Court, Providence, on Friday morning, where she pleaded not guilty to the charges, which are all misdemeanors.

She was ordered held on $15,000 with surety and ordered to undergo pretrial services including mental health counseling. She is to have no contact with animals. It’s unclear whether she posted bonded.

REPEAT OFFENDER
Ferreira was sent to prison on previous animal cruelty charges. In that case, she was convicted of intentionally starving her American Bulldog named Pebbles.

What Pebbles looked like when seized

Pebbles, at a healthy weight

(Providence Journal - March 30, 2018)

Earlier:

• Rhode Island: Korina Ferreira sentenced to 1-1/2 years in jail for intentionally starving her dog

Rhode Island: Animal control removes dogs, rats and snakes from Smithfield home - same house raided last year

RHODE ISLAND -- The Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and animal control officers from several communities removed about two dozen dogs from a home in Smithfield on Tuesday.

The RISPCA said rescuers took 25 to 30 dogs from 189 Pleasant View Avenue. A truck was brought in later to cart away hundreds of snakes and rats. The house was condemned.

Police also took away two men in handcuffs, including Michael Williams (aka Mike Williams, Omar Williams) and Michael Ramos (aka Noel Ramos, Mike Ramos). They were facing animal cruelty charges.

Animal control officers from North Providence, Smithfield, Glocester and Burrillville assisted with the removal of the dogs, which included English Bulldogs and bulldog-mix breeds.

"A number of the dogs were living in crates that were filled with accumulated feces, urine. They were standing in feces. The ammonia level was off the charts. It was very difficult for us to be in there," Joe Warzycha of RISPCA said.

The RISPCA said the men could also face breeding and town violations since they had more than three dogs.

Williams is no stranger to the RISPCA.

 

 

 

ANIMALS SEIZED FROM SAME HOUSE LAST YEAR (!)

The organization was at the home on Pleasant View Avenue last year and took out about 30 dogs. Williams was charged with animal cruelty then.

"We didn't know there were going to be this many today, but he has a history of having a large number of dogs in the house," Warzycha said.

But they found more than dogs this time.

Authorities confiscated hundreds of snakes, possibly worth tens of thousands of dollars if not more, and hundreds of rats, which were presumably bred to feed to the snakes. They also seized several lizards.

“There's no cruelty issues there, but the animals are being seized for safekeeping,” Warzycha said.

 

 

Pure Paradise Pets, a pet store in Johnston, was called in to remove all of them.

"There's geckos in the rack behind you. There's snakes right behind you on the floor in the tubs," Jim Arnold, who owns the pet shop, told NBC 10 News. "We've been moving stuff for 10 hours."

Arnold is providing all the reptiles and rats a place to live until the men go through their due process. The snakes won't be sold or up for adoption quite yet.

"This is more of a courtesy from one snake keeper to another snake keeper," Arnold said, adding that he wants to keep the snakes comfortable and happy.

Williams and Ramos are due in court Wednesday.

 

Authorities said Williams is still on probation from the Animal Cruelty charges from last year.

Given Williams' history, authorities don't want these or any other animals to return.

“He was permitted to have animals [after the last time he was charged with animal cruelty], which we're hoping doesn't happen this time around,” Warzycha said.

 

 

(Turnto10 - March 20, 2018)

West Virginia: Shannon Sears, 46, forced her 3 dogs to live in squalor, says Sheriff

WEST VIRGINIA -- Fayette County Sheriff's Department posted on Facebook February 6, 2018 ·

A Fayette County woman has been arrested for allegedly neglecting her pets. Sheriff Mike Fridley released the following information regarding this incident.

A Fayette County Sheriff's Deputy was dispatched to a residence in the Cannelton area regarding a possible animal cruelty complaint.

Upon the deputy's arrival, he found that the owner was keeping three dogs in an adjacent unoccupied apartment. The floors of the apartment were covered in dog feces and the overall living conditions of the animals were very poor. The Humane Society seized these dogs from this location.

The owner, Shannon Lee Sears (46 of Cannelton) was charged with four counts of Cruelty to Animals. Sears was arraigned by the Fayette County Magistrates Office and was released on a $8,000.00 bond.

"As usual, this agency takes a strong stand against abuse and neglect of animals" says Sheriff Fridley. "If you don't want to deal with pets, then don't have pets, it’s that simple".

If you have any information regarding this incident or any other crimes, contact the Fayette County Sheriff's Department at 304-574-3590, or through our Facebook page "Fayette County Sheriff's Department," or you can contact Crime Stoppers of West Virginia at 304-255-STOP.

This incident remains under investigation by Corporal N.D. Hall of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department.

United Kingdom: Disgusting couple walk out of court with NO jail time after subjecting animals to horrific conditions

UNITED KINGDOM -- A couple have been banned from keeping animals for a decade after a number of pets were found in ‘squalid’ conditions – surrounded by urine and human feces.

Robert Roy Rickman, 45, and Ceri Ann Rickman, 32, both of Parc Newydd, Briton Ferry, had both previously admitted causing unnecessary suffering to 15 domestic cats, and failing to take reasonable steps to ensure the needs of two dogs were met.

 

Those are bottles of urine

An RSPCA officer attended the property in June 2017, and found cats in a ‘horrendous’ condition roaming the filthy property. Two dogs – one brindle lurcher and a collie mix – were also living at the home.

The cats were “all riddled with fleas”, and many malnourished and with degrees of hair loss.

Mr Tarrant said when the RSPCA inspector left the house to take a breather from the “foul odour” inside, he found his trousers were “crawling with fleas”.

 

Human and animal feces was found across the property, urine was thrown into rooms in plastic bottles, mess was sprawled across the building and an overpowering smell was evident throughout.

ROBERT RICKMAN PREVIOUSLY CONVICTED OF ANIMAL CRUELTY
The court heard Robert, who had previously gone by the name Robert Ford, has a previous conviction from 1998 for causing unnecessary suffering to an animal under the old Protection of Animals Act 1911.

NO JAIL TIME FOR EITHER ANIMAL ABUSER
During sentencing at Swansea Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, both were given a ten-year ban on keeping all animals and a community order. They were each told to pay costs of £300, in addition to a victim surcharge of £85.

Thankfully, after all animals were signed into the RSPCA’s care, they were rehabilitated and sent to animal centers across England and Wales for adoption.

 

 

 

RSPCA inspector Neill Manley said: "This was a thoroughly grim and hugely challenging case, in some of the worst conditions I have witnessed in my entire life.

"I arrived at the property on one of the hottest days of the year, and was shell-shocked at the squalid conditions in which animals were living.

"Cats roamed the house in a truly horrendous condition, while two dogs were clearly being kept in a wholly inappropriate environment. The property was totally infested with fleas, and a number of the cats had developed an allergic reaction which was not treated. It’s a timely reminder as to the importance of seeking veterinary attention in such situations as soon as possible.

 

 

"Across the house, there were plastic bottles or urine, plus cardboard boxes filled with feces and spread across the floors.

"The condition of the animals was absolutely heartbreaking, and it beggars all belief that anyone deemed it acceptable to keep animals in such filthy, squalid surroundings.

"Fortunately, the RSPCA’s intervention ensured all animals were signed into our care – and could go on for rehoming, and a second chance of happiness.

"That happy outcome is a reminder as to the exact reason why the RSPCA exists."

 

 

 

(Metro UK - February 1, 2018)