A police department in Florida took to social media to share an important update on a devastating case of cruelty in which more than 70 animals were rescued from a house of horrors.
“Several of the dogs rescued from the animal hoarding case in Avon Park earlier this month have found new homes with Highlands County Sheriff’s Office employees. “Karissa Lewis took home a dog she named Khloe, Tom Ouverson adopted a dachshund that he named Hope, and Stacy Andrews also took home a little buddy she named Snoopy.”
The update followed the news released by the department earlier this month that 66-year-old Jinece Elizabeth Loughry was charged with 72 counts of animal cruelty after 42 dogs, eight cats, and one bird were taken from her 1,002-square-foot home on January 3rd.
Tragically, an additional 23 dead animals were also found in the home. According to the department, some of them were in such advanced states of decomposition that it was impossible to immediately determine if they were dogs or cats.
Many of the animals were confined to crates that were stacked three high in the living room, while others were loose inside the home, which had no running water. Loughry had not been living in the home, which was also infested with roaches and rats, since November.
Making the situation more appalling was the fact that Loughry was a volunteer for the Hardee Animal Rescue Team (HART). She had reportedly been telling HART that she was finding homes for the animals that she was in fact storing at the residence.
“There is no excuse for animals to be abused like this,” Sheriff Paul Blackman said in a statement at the time, further explaining that while Animal Services, which is a division of the sheriff’s office, inspects all four registered animal rescues in our county on a quarterly basis, more needs to be done. “I will be reaching out to the county commission as soon as possible to discuss a county ordinance that would require anyone operating a rescue or serving as a foster home for animals as part of a rescue, even as a volunteer, to register with Animal Services so they can be monitored and inspected on a regular basis. We need to make sure something like this horrible tragedy never happens again in our county.”
