A Hart County, Georgia woman who ran a nonprofit dog kennel is facing 26 counts of animal cruelty following her arrest on Friday.
The 67-year-old woman, who ran Southeast Welfare Animal Services, was taken to the Hart County Jail and released on bail shortly afterward, according to the Hart County Sheriff’s Office. All charges are misdemeanors.
The animal control service is located on Knox Bridge Crossing Road, which runs parallel to I-85 and is near the South Carolina state line.
“The woman was not mean to the dogs. In fact, they were overfed, but they were in a metal building,” said Sheriff Mike Cleveland. The building was extremely hot and the conditions were unsanitary, the sheriff said.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture has issued a cease and desist order against the operation, department spokesman Matthew Agvent said. The investigation is ongoing and the department’s legal team will conduct an administrative review, he said.
“All of our licensees are required to provide humane care for the animals entrusted to them,” Agvent said. “In this case, we found multiple and fairly serious violations. So it’s clearly a failure on the part of the operator to provide humane care for these animals.”
“She dropped the dogs off and they were distributed to different veterinarians and others,” Cleveland said.
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On Thursday and Friday, 26 dogs were removed from the facility, he said. Three dogs belonging to the woman were left behind, he said.
Officials from Hart County, the county’s Animal Control Department and the Department of Agriculture were on site Thursday and, with assistance from a local veterinary practice, removed most of the dogs.
According to the company profile on Facebook, the kennel was operated as a 501c nonprofit organization.
“We are not a rescue station, but we offer a safe haven for older dogs and help dogs on the road to death,” the site says.
The Southeast Welfare Service Facebook page shows that numerous people have donated money and goods to the campaign.
The woman started a GoFundMe page in May to raise $425 to purchase a large drum fan to help the animals cool off during the summer months. According to the page, $535 was raised.
