Bloomingdale shelter owner denies mistreating animals
By Dan Petrella, dpetrella@mysuburbanlife.com
Suburban Life Publications
Bloomingdale, IL -
The owner of a Bloomingdale shelter pleaded not guilty Tuesday to neglecting and mistreating animals left in her care.
Penny Horak, director of Pet Rescue, 151 N. Bloomingdale Road, was charged with animal neglect because she failed to provide adequate care for a sick cat at the shelter. She turned herself in to police in August after being charged.
The Illinois Department of Agriculture, which licenses the facility, fined Pet Rescue $200 for adopting out sick cats. A spokesman for the department said it is continuing to monitor the shelter.
In DuPage County Circuit Court on Tuesday, assistant state’s attorney Mandy Meindl told Judge Ronald Sutter that the state is filing 15 additional misdemeanor charges against Horak.
About a dozen women who were former Pet Rescue volunteers attended the short hearing, and outside the courtroom they were outspoken about the mistreatment and neglect they say the witnessed when working at the shelter, some as far back as 1989.
Some of the women were in tears as they discussed the treatment, which they said is still occurring.
Donna Kowalski of Schaumburg volunteered at the shelter for about a year, ending in July. She detailed the poor treatment animals received while flipping through a stack of photographs showing several cats with skin problems and dogs leashed to tables and refrigerators.
“They don’t even humanely euthanize (sick animals),” Kowalski said. “They wait for them to suffer and die on their own.”
Cherie Travis is associate director of the Center for Animal Law at DePaul University in Chicago. She said she became involved in the case after her veterinarian told her about allegations of mistreatment at the shelter.
“For about 28 years, people in the Bloomingdale area have been trying to shut the place down because the conditions for the animals are atrocious,” Travis said. “Now it is what it should be, a criminal case.”
If convicted, Horak faces up to 364 days in DuPage County Jail and thousands of dollars in fines. She is scheduled to return to court Nov. 19.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
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1 comments:
These to female persons are dispicable. I cannot even call them women - it would be insulting to the race. Or to call them human would be a lie. I hope that when their day comes they suffer as much as they have caused suffering. How dare they take money for the sole purpose of caring for stray animals and then not even use it for the animals - you women are PIGS, and deserve life in prison as far as I am concerned.
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