A woman from Monroe County has been found guilty of animal cruelty and has been ordered not to have any more animals.
Judith Kresge, 74, of Stroud Township has been ordered to pay $350 in fines and is not allowed to own an animal for the next 21 months after police and SPCA officers said she kept dozens animals in squalor in her Stroud Township mobile home.
Kresge was in tears Wednesday has she came out district court in Stroud Township.
"I had nobody to help me or my daughter. Her an I existed alone," Kresge said after she was found guilty by a magistrate judge of seven violations of animal cruelty.
Police and Pennsylvania SPCA officers found inside her mobile home in Stroud Township in December, 2008 with more than 60 birds, some of them exotic, and cages stacked one on top of another.
Cobwebs covered the ceiling and trash was stacked in shopping carts outside of the home.
Police said Kresge was living there with her daughter but rarely saw her because they were in separate rooms and the older Kresge was immobile. On Christmas Eve Wendy Kresge, 45, was found dead inside the home after a long-time illness. When police were called because of the death, they found several of the birds were dead and the mobile home had no running water.
"It was horrendos. It was horribe. You could not walk through the inside of the trailer. You had to climb over debris and junk. It was not sanitary for a human or an animal to live in," said Annette Hoffman, PSPCA humane officer.
"They saw animals living in unsanitary conditions so they were obligated to act and they went in with several search warrants and they got all of the animals out," said PSPCA attorney Maureen Coggins.
Kresge said the animals were her daughter's but the SPCA said she told them they were hers so officer cited the elderly woman for animal cruelty and a judge found her guilty.
The judge's ruling means the animals have been officially surrendered to the Pennsylvania SPCA and can be adopted out to new homes.
Judith Kresge said she plans to appeal the judge's decision.
Judith Kresge, 74, of Stroud Township has been ordered to pay $350 in fines and is not allowed to own an animal for the next 21 months after police and SPCA officers said she kept dozens animals in squalor in her Stroud Township mobile home.
Kresge was in tears Wednesday has she came out district court in Stroud Township.
"I had nobody to help me or my daughter. Her an I existed alone," Kresge said after she was found guilty by a magistrate judge of seven violations of animal cruelty.
Police and Pennsylvania SPCA officers found inside her mobile home in Stroud Township in December, 2008 with more than 60 birds, some of them exotic, and cages stacked one on top of another.
Cobwebs covered the ceiling and trash was stacked in shopping carts outside of the home.
Police said Kresge was living there with her daughter but rarely saw her because they were in separate rooms and the older Kresge was immobile. On Christmas Eve Wendy Kresge, 45, was found dead inside the home after a long-time illness. When police were called because of the death, they found several of the birds were dead and the mobile home had no running water.
"It was horrendos. It was horribe. You could not walk through the inside of the trailer. You had to climb over debris and junk. It was not sanitary for a human or an animal to live in," said Annette Hoffman, PSPCA humane officer.
"They saw animals living in unsanitary conditions so they were obligated to act and they went in with several search warrants and they got all of the animals out," said PSPCA attorney Maureen Coggins.
Kresge said the animals were her daughter's but the SPCA said she told them they were hers so officer cited the elderly woman for animal cruelty and a judge found her guilty.
The judge's ruling means the animals have been officially surrendered to the Pennsylvania SPCA and can be adopted out to new homes.
Judith Kresge said she plans to appeal the judge's decision.
