Shelters care for dogs seized in Fulton County animal cruelty case

GLOVERSVILLE — Cagney and Lacey are a bonded pair being cared for at the Fulton County Regional SPCA.

The shelter is crowded. Some of the dogs seized from Kelly’s Haven in Mayfield in July are getting care here.

Officials say one dog used to live in holes under the ground.

They say one scared dog that is having trouble with his back legs was being kept in a truck. Investigators showed us a picture of him when they found him.

“It’s amazing how quickly they bounce back and it’s amazing how quickly they come alive after they get some good food in them, and the medicine that they need for whatever infections that they had,” said Renee Earl, head of the Fulton County Regional SPCA.

Authorities say what the dogs look like now is a far cry from what they looked like two months ago.

Investigators say the dogs had a host of problems, and they showed us some troubling pictures of the condition they say they found the dogs in.

Renee Earl says she won’t soon forget the filthy, uninhabitable conditions, both inside and outside the house at Kelly’s Haven.

“Terror,” she said. “To see the way that a living being was forced to live.”

Owner Sue Kelly was in court last week, charged with 55 counts of animals cruelty.

Shelter staff members say dogs like Cagney and Lacey, and another bonded pair, the energetic girls nicknamed Lucy and Ethel, deserve a better life.

“The volunteers have worked tirelessly to socialize the dogs to get them to be able to be handled,” said Earl. “Most of them were semi-feral and not able to be touched, so they’ve come a long long way to be able to be where they are now, what you see on camera.”

A hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Mayfield that allows the SPCA to try to get Kelly to pay for the recent medical treatment and care for all the animals. If a judge grants that and Kelly cannot pay, the dogs could then be put up for adoption.