Entire family arrested on cruelty charges

(Texas, United States) An entire family faces child endangerment and animal cruelty charges in a Parker County case in which 58 dogs were seized last week from a home in Springtown and an 18-month-old was found in a crib surrounded by animal waste, the Parker County sheriff said Monday.

Authorities said five family members were taken into custody at various times during the weekend and Monday. It was not clear Monday who had custody of the child.

Parker County authorities identified the arrested family members as:

Teresa Weldon, 48, the grandmother of the toddler and owner of the property. She was arrested Saturday and faces two charges of animal cruelty and one case of child endangerment. She was released Sunday after posting $11,500 bail.

Harry George Weldon, 50, the grandfather. He was taken into custody Saturday and released Sunday after posting $2,000 bail. He faces a charge of animal cruelty.

Amanda Gayle Weldon, 29, of Fort Worth, the child’s mother. She was arrested over the weekend while visiting a relative at the Westworth Village Jail. Amanda Weldon, who faces a charge of child endangerment, was free Monday after posting bail during the weekend.

Christopher Brett Weldon, 26, of Aledo, the child’s uncle. He was arrested in Tarrant County during the weekend and faces charges of animal cruelty and child endangerment. He remained in custody.

Joseph Wayne Weldon, 23, of Fort Worth, the child’s uncle. He surrendered to Parker County authorities Monday and was in the Parker County Jail, where he faces charges of animal cruelty and child endangerment.

It was the second time in a week that Teresa Weldon was arrested. On Wednesday, the grandmother was arrested on a Tarrant County theft warrant as authorities seized the dogs. She was released from the Parker County Jail the next day.

Three dogs were euthanized shortly after authorities seized them, and five puppies died during the weekend, Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said Monday.

Authorities received a tip about unhealthy conditions for the dogs at a Springtown residence in the 900 block of Lynch Bend Road last week and went to check on it Wednesday.

Officials said many dogs were found in poor conditions. Animal control officers found unsanitary living conditions.

Thirty-one dogs were found in crates inside the residence in their own urine and feces, without food or water, Sheriff’s Department Investigator John Qualls said. Several outdoor pens contained puppies sitting in their own waste, authorities said.

Confessed dog strangler appears in court

(Connecticut, United States) Animal rights activists shouted “coward” and “murderer” outside the court hearing of a Branford man charged with choking his dog to death when it misbehaved.

Twenty-two-year-old Alex Wullaert was arraigned Tuesday in New Haven Superior Court on animal cruelty and littering charges. He’s free on a promise to appear in court.

Wullaert was arrested last Monday after a microchip found inside the dog’s discarded body in January identified him as the owner. Authorities say Wullaert confessed to strangling the pit bull-boxer mix, named Desmond, at his home after it urinated on his leg and bit him.

Wullaert said in court papers that he put flowers on the lake where he tossed the dog’s body.

Eight kittens killed leads to perpetrator search

(New York, United States) Animal cruelty authorities are seeking swift arrest of a perpetrator for the murder and abuse of eight feral kittens.

The reward for information leading to the arrest of a sadistic kitten killer, who first abused the kittens and then brutally murdered them, initially was $4,000, but today, based on how brutally the kittens were killed, the reward has been raised to $6,000, according to the Guardians of Rescue’s Facebook Page.

The animal abuse took place between May 3 and May 4 in Ronkonkoma, Suffolk County, on Long Island, New York.

According to an item recently published on CBS New York, authorities are trying to find the person who is responsible for this heinous act of animal cruelty. The eight dead kittens were discovered last week by a woman, identified only as Lori, who was caring for a colony of feral cats and kittens in Bohemia.

Frank Floridia, an animal worker from Guardians of Rescue said Lori discovered the eight kittens, who had been taken away from the feral cat colony and subsequently mutilated. The kittens ranged from 3 days old to 3 weeks-of-age.

Floridia said the kittens were “stepped on, crushed and beaten with some kind of tool that caused puncture wounds.” Following the veterinary examination, according to Floridia, the veterinarian concluded their injuries were not in any way caused by wildlife.

The veterinarian ascertained that all the kittens had died from massive skull traumas and blunt force body injuries. He added, “To come here and see something like this is just an outrage. . . I would love to see this person caught, convicted and put in jail.”

Guardians of Rescue reported that Chaps and Midnight, the kittens’ mothers, have been searching desperately for their babies. Lori said she “found the two mothers huddling together, very frantic.”

Adding to the mystery about the reason these eight feral kittens were so brutally killed, Guardians of Rescue reported that the surrounding community had welcomed and were enjoying the kittens, with no threats made concerning the feral colony.