(LEX 18 — An animal cruelty investigation came to a head yesterday when the Garrard County Sheriff’s Office says they found more than 80 dogs living in “extremely deplorable conditions” in a Lancaster home.
Law enforcement served a warrant at a house on Royalty Dr. The sheriff's office says 64-year-old Dennis Kirkpatrick was arrested and charged with 62 counts of second-degree cruelty to animals and a felony count of torture of a dog.
VP and GM of Paws 4 the Cause Anita Spreitzer heard about the case late last night.
“As a rescue person right now, I feel like I’m beaten,” she said. “Every single day I look on Facebook or social media, or get a phone call from reporters, I’m like, oh no, not again. That was my first thing this morning.”
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Under conditions of anonymity, one local resident shared Kirkpatrick was a New York police officer and the resident could often hear him yelling at the dogs.
“It hurts my heart for these animals. It really does,” Spreitzer said.
County officials deemed the home uninhabitable, and the dogs were placed in the custody of Garrard County Animal Control.
“Their shelter is at capacity at this time and now they have to take on another 80 dogs,” said Spreitzer. “That’s a disaster.”
Spreitzer knows because Paws 4 the Cause helped rescue 72 dogs from Estill County last September.
“That was a big case, and it took a toll on us,” Spreitzer shared. “Two weeks, we worked really, really hard from day to night. The vet bills were probably anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 so it takes a financial load. Emotionally, it hurt us for at least two months coming out of that.”
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In the year since the surviving dogs all found new homes.
“It makes it all worth it, but at the time when you’re going through it it’s like your fighting a battle,” said Spreitzer. “You have to get through the battle to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
To win the battle, Spreitzer hopes to see stricter animal cruelty laws enacted like Ethan’s Law, which went into action in July.
“There has to be laws that are strict enough that it’s not just a slap in the hand, because then people will think second about it,” Spreitzer said.
Ethan’s Law was enacted to add animal protection and hold abusers accountable. However, Kentucky has seen a number of animal hoarding cases take place across the state in the past year, with four of those involving more than 70 animals at their locations.
