EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

New Hampshire

Newton woman faces four counts of animal cruelty

By Rebecca Correa
Staff writer
Published: July 1, 2008

NEWTON — A Dugway Road resident faces up to four years in jail after officials found more than 70 animals in her home. The animals were kept in crates and the house had ammonia levels so high it could have caused brain damage to animals or humans, police said.

Suzanne James, 47, turned herself in to police Friday night and was charged with four counts of animal cruelty. Her arrest warrant came two weeks after state health officials and local police officers seized 66 cats, three rabbits, two guinea hens and a German shepherd from her home.

Newton police Officer Mike Jewett said police chose to press four charges against her because four of the 66 cats found in her home had to be euthanized.

Three of the cats were euthanized after they tested positive for feline immunodeficiency virus, which is similar to AIDS in humans, said Steve Sprowl, cruelty investigator for the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Another cat was euthanized after rescue workers discovered a cancerous abscess in its ear.

Police said they learned about James' large collection of cats after the Department of Health and Human Services received a complaint. That complaint came from James' adult daughter, who claimed cats were biting and scratching her while she slept. Jewett said the daughter did not wish to press additional charges against her mother.

James will be arraigned on the animal cruelty charges on Sept. 8 in Plaistow District Court. The town's health officer ordered her to have her house commercially cleaned. The home will be reinspected later this month.

Most of the cats were Maine coon cats. James claimed to be a coon cat breeder, but officials said she had no valid license. Police said it would be up to the town's Code Enforcement Department to fine her for that violation.

Police entered James' home on the morning of June 18 and spent more than three hours removing animals. Officials described the house as littered with animal feces and having an overwhelming smell of ammonia. The ammonia level, which came from cat urine in dirty litter boxes, was so high that it could cause brain damage in humans or animals who spent more than eight hours at a time in the house, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Sprowl said there is no test to see if the animals were brain damaged from the home's conditions. He added that most of the cats are being treated for upper respiratory infections, which could take up to another two weeks to treat. He expects all the remaining animals to recover and to be ready for adoption by the end of the month.

He said some of the animals are ready for adoption now. For more information on how to adopt one of the rescued animals, call the Stratham SPCA office at 772-2921.

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