A Randolph County district judge refused this week to immediately release 57 animals to a woman charged with animal cruelty and set her trial for April 22.
Sandra Croney of Warm Springs petitioned the court, asking that authorities return 46 dogs, eight chickens and three cats taken from her home when Randolph County sheriff's deputies and members of several animal rescue groups confiscated them Feb. 19.
Randolph County Sheriff Gary Tribble said in a case summary filed in the district court that his deputies went to Croney's home after a witness told him that she saw what appeared to be starving dogs with no shelter outside Croney's house. The witness said dozens of animals also were inside the house, where several were tangled in tethers and could not move more than a few feet.
Several dogs tested positive for heartworms and Ehrilchia, a tick-borne disease, Tribble wrote in the summary.
The sheriff said the dogs were "slowly being starved to death and were suffering an advanced stage of starvation." He wrote that he thought the animals would have died had deputies not rescued them that day.
Croney, who raises dogs for cattlemen and therapy patients, was charged with 58 counts of animal cruelty -- 57 counts for the animals rescued and one count for a chicken found dead in her yard.
In August 2013, Croney was convicted of 10 counts of animal cruelty. She petitioned for the release of animals in that case and received them after a veterinarian said she had to provide proper enclosures for them.
District Clerk Sarah Dunlap said District Judge John Throesch ordered Croney to post a $15,511 bond during a hearing Wednesday if she wanted to petition for her animals' release. She had seven days as of Wednesday to file the petition, Throesch ruled.
Croney said Tuesday that all of her animals were under veterinarian care when authorities found them in February. She said she has bills from her veterinarian and for the animals' feed to prove that.
"I don't think I should be a victim in this," she said. "I love my dogs. They are everything to me."
She said she felt she was targeted and "used as a scapegoat" by animal rescue groups that are urging Arkansas legislators to pass stricter animal cruelty laws.
State Desk on 03/20/2015