Second animal cruelty case in three months for Delaware woman

Fifteen cats and two dogs were removed from Mary Carey’s home in Sussex County earlier this month, after they were found to be housed in cramped, filthy conditions.

Delaware Animal Care and Control received a complaint last week about the animals.  When officers arrived at the home on Orchard Road in Ellendale, they found the animals being kept in small travel carriers concealed in a large shed.  The animals were dehydrated and were covered in urine and feces.  

“Some of the cats are in some pretty rough shape from being ill and not being treated,” says Maj. Brian Whipple, Chief Animal Control Officer.  “This is actually our second go around with Mary Carey since January.”  Animal control officers removed 25 dogs from a home back at the start of the year.  “The repeat offenders, it’s difficult to understand why they keep doing this,” he says.

Carey faces 13 counts of animal cruelty among other charges.  She was released and ordered not to own or possess any animals until the case is settled.

The animals, in addition to those from Carey’s first run-in with the law, are now being kept and treated at the Kent County SPCA in Camden.  That’s making crowding issues the facility faces on a regular basis even worse.  “Right now, all the animals are still being held here as evidence,” says Whipple.  The SPCA has to keep the animals until the courts can settle the charges and determine what should be done with them.  “Being the only open door facility in the state we receive animals daily, and having to hold another 42 animals from a cruelty case, it could extend 60 days plus, if not a lot longer than that.”  He says holding these animals as evidence in a cruelty case takes away space from other animals that need help.