[News] UK Woman Kept 246 dogs + More In Home

[fasteddie]

That is insane!!!
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An obsessive collector of animals kept a menagerie of 246 dogs, 16 birds and seven cats in her four-bedroom house, a court heard yesterday.

Rosalind Gregson, 55, confined most of her pets to cages, often in pairs and often piled on top of each other in conditions so cramped they could not stand to their full height.

were flea-ridden, emaciated and stricken with eye infections. Others had ulcers. Nine were in such a poor state that RSPCA officers had to put them down.

A district judge at Preston magistrates' court heard that when the RSPCA team raided Gregson's £500,000 detached house at Silverdale, near Carnforth, Lancs, they were initially "overwhelmed" by the stench of ammonia and faeces. They found the animals living in virtually unlit, rat-infested rooms with little water and food. Most of the water they did have was contaminated with cat litter.

District judge Peter Ward was shown an RSPCA video which showed officers viewing the "dismal and depressing conditions". The camera pans from cage to cage, showing dogs barely able to sit up. One RSPCA officer is heard to say: "How can they live in this? This is appalling."

Some of the dogs are lifted out of their cages and held up in view of the camera. One, a Maltese terrier, is shown with her fur matted with what appears to be excrement. An officer says: "She's in a terrible state."

Another, a Shih-tzu, has matted fur and appears emaciated. Its weakness and reluctance to stand is attributed by a vet to the muscle wasting in its hind legs. The animal was later put down.

An emaciated Yorkshire terrier had a discharge coming from both eyes. Few of its teeth remained, its nails were overgrown and it had a severe skin infection. It, too, had to be put down. Tim Bergin, prosecuting, said: "It is not the prosecution case that she maliciously caused cruelty to the animals in her home; simply that she allowed her obsession to collect animals to overwhelm her.

"She lost complete control to properly care for the animals in her charge. The net result was that the animals were living and surviving in what can only be described as dismal and depressing conditions where their needs were simply not met." He said the animals' poor health was solely the result of Gregson's "obsessional behaviour in collecting a large number of animals".

RSPCA officers, who raided Well Bank Cottage with environmental health officers from Lancashire county council, had never seen such a large number of animals in a single house.

"Not in their wildest dreams did they expect to be confronted with what they saw," said Mr Bergin.

Gregson denies 49 counts of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal in September 2003.

The trial is expected to last 12 days.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...19/ixhome.html

[lyricandme]

Those poor babies! I hope they convict her and put her away....at least in a mental hospital! This makes me sick.

[Gypsy Rose]

I'd like to put her in a CAGE!! What possible pleasure did she get from keeping those poor dogs in this way? I look at our healthy happy girls and I could cry for those poor dogs treated like that. I wonder if she actually stole some of them? No doubt they will scan them for microchips? So relieved that they were rescued but I wouldn't like to think what their mental attitude and behaviour will be like now... they need very special homes. No, I'd definitely love to put that woman in a cage.... Ana x

[sarahr]

that is horrible. I was watching animal cops houston the other night and a lady had 220 dogs. it took the team like 6 hours to get them all. The place was a total disaster. The breeder, was so dumb she didn't understand why the cops were taking them away! These people make me so angry

[lyricandme]

OK....I agree with you! A cage would suit her just fine! Maybe with a few fleas? I think so!

[Shanatink]

I wish I had lots and lots of land with lots of shelter so that I could rescue animals in these situations. I hate hearing these stories knowing that there are plenty more cases that havent come to surface yet and there isnt a whole lot I can do about it. I had to stop watching animal cops beacuse I just cried a lot.

[I_love_lucy]

I've just heard on the radio that she has admitted 9 cruelty charges (but how many animals? ) At least she will now have to face some concequences

[wollfy]

Why do people have to be so cruel?!

[I_love_lucy]

Originally Posted by wollfy

Why do people have to be so cruel?!

I agree, although from what they were saying it sounds as if she was an animal lover and she just couldn't cope with so many animals. Still no excuse for letting them suffer like that though

[Connie]

This is sick! I wonder how long she had these dogs. You'd think that someone with that many dogs would get reported long before she had 246 innocent dogs. It breaks my heart to think of dogs in these type circumstances. I hope she gets a life sentence...or as Gyspy Rose said...put her in a cage...with spoiled food and water! Ugh!

[yorkielover_201]

i hate people that do that to aniamls she should be in a cage that size to show her not to do that to animals agian

[USMARINEWIFE]

HOLY CRAP! That's alotta animals! It's amazing how many people have that many animals though! How sad....

[YorkieRose]

HollyBelle Maltese in Tenn kept more then that...over 280.

[lily's mom]

How incredibly sad!!!!!!!!!!

[fasteddie]

UPDATE: Woman with 271 pets admits cruelty

AN Englishwoman apparently obsessed with collecting pets has admitted to nine counts of animal cruelty.

Rosalind Gregson shared her cottage with 271 animals and her husband until being raided by inspectors.

The 55-year-old confessed to causing suffering to nine of her pets, who were in such poor condition they had to be put to sleep after being rescued by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).

Gregson initially denied 49 charges of failing to provide for her huge menagerie - mostly dogs, but also cats, birds, a rabbit and a chinchilla - at her cottage in Silverdale, Lancashire, northwest England.

RSCPA officers who visited in September 2003 described the "overwhelming" sight and smell of the concentration of emaciated and sick animals at her trial.

They said many were covered in their own faeces and urine, and some were trapped two and three to a cage in dim and dirty rooms.

One inspector told the court she had to leave after only a few minutes to get fresh air.

The RSPCA accepted Gregson's guilty plea on condition that her remaining pets - eight dogs and a parrot - be removed from her home.

The district judge said the other charges could be dropped in light of her plea.

Gregson now faces a maximum six-month jail sentence and £5000 ($12,100) fine.

Her lawyer Ann-Marie Gregory said the case had a "very tragic background", but argued Gregson had acted with courage by accepting guilt.

"It's not a deliberate or wanton act," she said. "Of course, it's right there are nine animals that suffered and she must be punished."

In opening arguments, the prosecution said it did not believe Gregson intended to be cruel, but had been overwhelmed by her obsession to collect animals, and could no longer take care of them.

The RSPCA inspectors said they had never seen so many animals in one home, counting 246 dogs, 16 birds, five cats, two kittens, a rabbit and the chinchilla.

They described the poor conditions of many in the menagerie, including a Yorkshire terrier with bones sticking out and substantial injuries in one cage, a Shih Tzu collapsed in another, and a bunch of "very frightened" dogs hunched up in cages in the attic.

Thirty-three dogs and five birds were recovered from the kitchen alone.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117...-23109,00.html