Sick, Sick, Sick...Or Evil?

[Madeline]

Their mouths were muzzled and wrapped in so much tape they couldn't breathe, bark or eat. Their fur was matted with filth and the house was crammed with so much trash, it hid the floor.

A Long Island mother and daughter were arrested yesterday after more than a dozen tortured dogs and cats were rescued from a filth-riddled Rockville Centre home that included more than two dozen decomposing animal remains, cops said.

Judge Anna Anzalone teared up as prosecutors showed pictures of a dog skull with tape still visible on it, as well as the squalor in the small house.

Faith Ross, 54, a secretary, and Francesca Maselli, 24, a nursing-home aide, pleaded not guilty and were being held at the Nassau County Jail on more than $75,000 bail each on three felony animal-cruelty counts.

Hempstead town officials were tipped to the wretched conditions inside the seemingly sedate Montauk Avenue home when someone complained about the smell coming from the house.

When officials arrived, the dogs could be heard barking and there was a smell of gas, so Animal Control as well as National Grid were called in.

Inside, authorities said, they found a nightmare: 15 dehydrated, trembling animals covered in urine and feces, amid two feet of trash on every piece of flooring, and the rotting corpses of dozens more.

There were six Chihuahuas, three dachshunds, an English bulldog, a Yorkshire terrier, a Shih Tzu, a boxer and two cats among the survivors. Another pooch, a collie mix, was taken directly to an animal hospital for emergency care.

They also took several pounds of matted, dirt-encrusted fur from around the home. A new car in the driveway was packed with trash, grocery bags and cans of dog food.
"Fifteen animals were rescued from living hell," said Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray. "The people who did this are sick and evil."

Officials also discovered the remains of 26 other animals, including eight cats, five ferrets, five parrots, and five dogs, police said.

"They were really creepy," said neighbor Anthony Conte, 25. "They only came out at 4:30 in the morning. They would never walk more than one dog. The dog was dirty. You could tell."

The animals are not available for adoption because Ross and Maselli refused to forfeit ownership, forcing the Town of Hempstead to go through a civil-court hearing within the next 10 days.

Ross' ex-husband, Louis Maselli, said he has had no contact with daughter Francesca for more than a decade because Ross cut her off from him and his family after the courts refused to require visitation.

"My daughter was taken away from me when she was 11 and taught to hate me and my family," he told The Post. "I gave up, finally, after 10 years of phone calls and letters."
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Animals recovered from LI house of horrors - NYPOST.com

Unbelievable. The daughter may be mentally ill -- I wonder what her childhood could have been like -- but the mother seems totally evil to me.

 

[chanel]

It's called "animal hoarding". We had a local story about this. Chances are they will get a slap on the wrist and ordered to counseling.

Six dogs were found buried in the backyard; officers said they stopped digging because they had enough evidence to charge her.

Fifty seven sick and malnourished dogs were being kept in unconscionable conditions inside a home covered with fecal matter and urine. Dogs were also housed outside, their pens were covered in feces. Their water was frozen and little evidence of food could be found.

State S.P.C.A. Raids Goshen Home Multiple Dogs Found Dead - Cape May County Herald

 

[Madeline]

Seems to me we need stronger laws against animal cruelty, then.

I dunno if I'd classify these two as animal hoarders.....I have watched that show on Animal Planet a few times, and I've never seen anyone mistreat the animals (apart from the abuse inherent in keeping them in crowded, unsanitary conditions.)

Taping their mouths shut seems far worse to me.

 

[chanel]

True. But I bet these women get letters from the psychiatrists which will keep them out of jail.