Pulaski County animal abuse: Animals removed from home

Three dogs are still clinging to life and more than a dozen other animals are on a long road to recovery. Friday, the Humane Society removed them from a Pulaski County home; the homeowner is now in police custody.

The Pulaski County Sheriff's Office responded to a call of two starving horses loose on East Mail Route Road. Officers located their owner, but saw there was an even bigger situation.  More than 30 dogs and cats were in various stages of malnutrition. Some of these images may be disturbing.

Homeowner Shelia Ford sits handcuffed in the back of a police car watching her pets placed in crates, some are walking skeletons.

Lt. Carl Minden says, "Ford spoke to the responding deputy, she advised that she was feeding them. I'm not going to deny she wasn't feeding them, but obviously she wasn't feeding them properly."

Ford surrendered approximately 30 animals to the Pulaski County Humane Society, all with health conditions, fleas and starving.

A Humane Society employee holds a frail kitten covered in fleas, "It will be in the next week and a half if we'll know if it's going to live or not."

One dog in particular tugged at everyone's heart; it was Phoenix.

An employee held Phoenix, "He's emaciated, his gum color is almost non existent, that's about as pale as you can get."

They were brought to the shelter and put on medication. Empolyees had put Phoenix in the ICU clinging to life. He had very little red blood cells left.

Simpson with the Pulaski County Humane Society had said, "We sent Phoenix and one of our big healthy dogs to get a blood transfusion to see if we can't save him."

The staff says these are the faces of what happens without a sterilization law. Simpson explains, "There needs to be something done to stop these animals from suffering because we're to blame." She continues, "I can tell you it took several months for these animals to get in this condition. The sad thing is the animals that were in the worst shape were in pins or chained up so there was no way for them to go and forge for anything to eat."

"We don't know what's going to make it or what isn't at this point," Simpson adds.

Ford has been charged with four counts of felony animal cruelty and 30 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty.

It will take a few months to get the animals healthy enough for adoption. The Pulaski County Humane Society is currently caring for about 100 more dogs than they have room for; they're in need of food and donations for medical costs.