BROAD RUN, Va. – Animal Control officers in Virginia seized more than 70 neglected animals and at least one dead dog from a home they suspect was operating as a puppy mill, a county sheriff’s office announced.
Deputies were searching a home near Broad Run during an animal cruelty investigation when they discovered the dogs, mostly Doberman pinschers and French bull dogs, in various stages of neglect, the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement last week. The dogs were being kept in inadequate conditions, and without access to food and water, the agency said.
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More than 50 poultry and other animals were also seized, the sheriff’s office said. The agency didn’t specify how many animals were dead but said a deceased dog was transferred to the Fauquier Health Department Agriculture Laboratory for a necropsy.
Animal control officials in Baltimore County, Maryland, initially contacted Fauquier County Animal Control when a caller reported that a dog showing signs of “prolonged neglect” had been left unclaimed at a veterinary clinic in Maryland, news outlets reported.
Irina Barrett, 41, of Broad Run was charged with felony cruelty to animals resulting in death and misdemeanor neglect of companion animals, the sheriff’s office confirmed.
The dogs were taken to a local animal shelter for care.