Suspended sentence given in cruelty case
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PLAQUEMINE — A state judge on Tuesday gave an Erwinville woman convicted of animal cruelty a six-month suspended jail sentence and ordered her to pay $15,000 in restitution and bond forfeiture.
In a plea agreement with prosecutors, Catherine Ann Kissner, 50, pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and agreed to stop breeding dogs at her residence.
She is to pay $7,000 in restitution and to forfeit an $8,000 bond to All Pets Hospital in Baton Rouge, which treated and cared for dozens of sick animals that authorities seized from Kissner’s property in August.
Kissner’s defense lawyer, J. Kevin Kimball, told 18th Judicial District Judge Alvin Batiste his client wasn’t cruel to the dogs, cats, birds and horses on her property, but admits there was neglect.
“It wasn’t cruelty to animals; it was a matter of neglect,” Kimball said.
Neglecting to provide an animal with proper food, shelter and veterinary care is covered under the state’s animal cruelty statute. It is a misdemeanor offense punishable by up to six months in prison and fines.
The case came to light last August after animal control officers, who were responding to a complaint about a German shepherd on the loose, traced the dog to Kissner’s home on Section Road.
At the home, investigators found animals living in small cages filled with urine and feces. Water left for several of the animals was discolored and filled with insect larvae, sheriff’s deputies reported at the time.
Kimball attributed the problems to the people Kissner hired to care for the animals after she was involved in a car crash.
Animal welfare advocates monitoring the case said several of the animals taken from Kissner’s property were in such poor health that they could not be saved.
“I think she got off too lightly,” said Neale Gordon, one of the advocates who attended Tuesday’s hearing, said after the sentencing.
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