Animal Cruelty Article

This is the article on animal cruelty that I was speaking of earlier.  My greatest thanks goes out to the South Bend Tribune and Stan Maddux for writing and printing this article and hopefully they won't sue me for reprinting it in hopes of getting the word out on animal cruelty and the need to stricter laws in the state of Indiana and all states.  I had to split the article into two parts due to AOL's lack of space for each journal entry.

MICHIGAN CITY -- At times, Don McSpadden's stomach turned from a putrid odor drifting from his neighbor's property.But he never imagined that the smell was from dozens of rotting animal carcasses, some reduced to skeletons."I always thought she had a lot of animals over there. We didn't know about the dead ones," said McSpadden, a resident of Springfield Township.On Sunday, 49 dead cats along with several dead birds and rabbits were removed by LaPorte County authorities from a garage in the 3700 block of West County Road 625 North near Michigan City.All of the carcasses, in various stages of decomposition, were in tiny cages stacked high on top of each other throughout the detached garage also filled with urine, feces, maggots and flies, said LaPorte County Animal Control Director Jane Bernard.Just a few feet away was a ranch-style modular home that contained 29 live animals, mostly beagles, along with a few dead rats.Although well-fed, the surviving animals were living inside cages or locked in rooms with floors soaked in waste, Bernard said.The urine and feces left many of the animals with burns and other skin conditions, Bernard said."There was not a clean spot without stepping into urine or stool. That's the worst I've ever seen," Bernard said.The property owner, Kathy Shotsberger, 45, is now charged with neglect of a vertebrate animal.Her home in a former agricultural area that's now heavily residential was also condemned by the LaPorte County Health Department because of the unsanitary conditions, police said.An elderly woman reportedly lived with Shotsberger, but she has not been charged at this time.