MySuburbanLife, 10/29/08

Judge bars shelter from removing animalsBy Dan Petrella, dpetrella@mysuburbanlife.com
Suburban Life Publications
Wed Oct 29, 2008, 04:00 PM CDT


Bloomingdale, IL -
A DuPage County judge ordered Wednesday that 13 animals involved in a criminal case against the operators of a Bloomingdale shelter must remain there, at least until a court hearing next month.

Pet Rescue and two of its officers each have been charged with 16 misdemeanor counts for animal cruelty and violation of owners’ duties. The Illinois Department of Agriculture suspended the shelter’s license earlier this month.

In addition to the company, director Penny Horak, 69, of Winfield, and president Dale Armon, 74, of Berkeley, have been charged. Both women face up to a year in jail if they are convicted.

Associate Judge Jane Hird Mitton ordered the animals can only leave the shelter to receive veterinary care.

“The order will be that the animals that are subject to these complaints are not transferred out of the facility,” she said.

Prosecutors are also seeking a court order to allow county or state officials to make regular inspections of the shelter. A hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 24 to decide that matter.

Assistant state’s attorney Amanda Meindl said authorities were concerned that without a court order barring their transfer, some of the animals may have been moved to another property in Hebron.

Horak’s defense attorney, Rick Schoenfield, said the shelter was deprived of due process because the Department of Agriculture suspended its license without a hearing.

According to state documents, the license for Pet Rescue was suspended for 12 months after a fourth violation of the Illinois Humane Care of Animals Act was discovered at the facility Oct. 16. The violation indicates there was no operating handwashing facility in one of the buildings on the site.

Jeff Squibb, communications manager for the IDOA, said employees at Pet Rescue are caring for the animals housed there, and are being monitored by the IDOA, local police and the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

For about 30 years, former Pet Rescue volunteers have been trying to shut the shelter down due to the poor conditions in which they say animals there are kept.

Cherie Travis, of Downers Grove, is associate director of the Center for Animal Law at DePaul University.
After Wednesday’s court hearing, she said the former volunteers are not only concerned that the animals involved in the case may be transferred, but that any of the 200 animals could be taken away from the shelter.

“The issue is that they’re all being neglected,” Travis said.

Staff writer David Heitz contributed to this report.