Home > Talk of East Texas > Archives > 2008 > July > 10 > Entry
More than 60 dogs seized in Marion County
JEFFERSON — The ammonia levels inside a home raided earlier this morning by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Texas necessitated a call for HAZMAT suits Thursday.
The ammonia meter tapped out at 99, its maximum level. A place is considered unsafe to enter if the ammonia meter reads 27.
The Sheriff’s Office and the Society conducted a raid on property near Lone Star and seized at least 60 dogs. Barbara Britton Holtz was arrested for two outstanding Rusk County warrants for animal cruelty and destruction of property.
An affidavit for arrest, signed by Marion County deputy Roger Manning, said “On July 9, 2008, I visited the property. I saw approximately 44 dogs” which, the affidavit continues were “lacking shelter, veterinarian care, under fed, flea infestation, unsanitary condition and had visible eye infections.”
When the Society investigators visited the property Wednesday, they observed about 60 dogs. The investigators were not allowed inside the house, owned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, nor the mobile home on the property. According to Marion County District Attorney Bill Gleason, who along with a Sheriff’s Office deputy and Society representatives, were the first to enter the property, said they found one dog in the house and one in the backyard. “She was obviously sleeping in there but it smells pretty bad in there, too,” said Gleason.
The dogs will be transported to the SPCA’s Perry Animal Care Center in McKinney where they will be cared for until a custody hearing.
Comments
By Shea
July 11, 2008 5:41 AM | Link to this
People like this are mentally ill. She needs to be put in a mental health facility. I wonder if she has family somewhere? Where are the people that care about her. Sad, so very very sad.