Updated 07/05/2012 04:52 PM
Abused dogs found in Conklin home
A Broome County woman has been arrested for aggravated animal cruelty. Thirteen dogs were found to be living in filth at her home in Conklin. Our Melissa Kakareka joined us from the newsroom with more.
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
BROOME COUNTY, N.Y. -- Officials at the Broome County Humane Society spent the day weighing and bathing thirteen Dobermans as they try to help them recover from the trauma that they've been through.
Neighbors near 200 Shaw Road in Conklin say they rarely saw Christine Macan, 61. But they did smell a foul odor coming from her home.
"Especially when it got hot, it would just come down these past couple weeks, it was just the most God-awful smell. You couldn't be outside, couldn't have your windows open, kids couldn't play outside, it was unbearable," said neighbor Pam Freije.
State Police and the Broome County Humane Society responded to the neighbors' complaints early Wednesday morning and found 13 Dobermans living in horrific conditions.
"I've been a cruelty investigator for six years and have investigated thousands of cases and just when I think the last one was the worst, this one I think tops all of them," said Humane Society Animal Cruelty Investigator Tarah Tripp
Authorities say the dogs were extremely emaciated and covered in feces. Four of them were in crates with about one inch of feces in it. Investigators also found three dogs which had been dead for at least a year in crates. Other dead animals were also found in another room.
"Anything from parakeets to mice to hamsters to rabbits. We did remove one live rabbit and three live hamsters. Their cages, no food, no water, were covered in feces and hadn't been cleaned for months. The bedroom just had crates stacked. The animals were dead for so long it is hard to tell what they were," Tripp said.
Macan was charged with felony aggravated animal cruelty and was released. She will appear before the Town of Conklin Court at a later date.
Meanwhile, the Humane Society is working to help all of the animals recover.
"We're not going to be thinking about releasing them until they are in our care for 10 to 15 days, so we can monitor and run some tests and at that time we'll seek out some local Doberman rescues. If they are healthy and ready to be adopted, we'll be happy to adopt them to anyone as well," Tripp said.
The Humane Society is asking for donations to help them with the rescue, whether it's money, dog food or other pet supplies. They say this rescue has put them at full capacity.