Animal Welfare League rescues 150 dogs, 30 cats

To care for so many animals, the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County will need help from the public.

GUSTAVUS — The dog kennels stretch out across the backyard of Kathy Witzman’s house like the tent cities you see when there’s a natural disaster.

They’re big, metal, screened boxes containing one or more dogs, and there are so many of them.

Next to the house is a large barn, also filled with caged dogs. They’re warmer than the dogs outside but living in near darkness.

Walking into the house, one is hit by the smell of urine — so pungent with ammonia that it seems impossible to remain more than a short while. Whatever floor covering was there at one time appears to have rotted away.

Debbie Agostinelli, shelter director for the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County, stood outside 5175 state Route 87, which is just a dot in a landscape of mostly treeless farmland.

“In 30 years, it’s the biggest [collection of animals] and worst house I’ve seen,” Agostinelli said Friday of Witzman’s property, where the Animal Welfare League and others worked all day long, removing 150 dogs, 30 cats, two horses and a few ducks and chickens.

Deputy Harold Firster of the Trumbull County sheriff’s office removed two people first thing Friday after serving a search warrant: Witzman, who was arrested and placed in Trumbull County Jail to await formal criminal charges, and Witzman’s 97-year-old mother, who was taken by ambulance to Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital for evaluation.

Firster, who handles environmental and animal issues for the sheriff, said Witzman is likely to face animal-cruelty charges based on the number of sick and dead animals found there.

Barbara Busko, Animal Welfare League president, said some of the animals needed immediate veterinary care, and many had no water, or had frozen water.

Firster said there was no indication of food in any of the kennels when he arrived. It appears that many of the animals were not being fed adequately, he said.

“It would take one person 25 hours a day to feed all of these animals,” he said.

Busko said all of the animals were being taken to a location in the Warren area to be checked by a team of volunteer veterinarians and given whatever else they need.

To care for so many animals, the Animal Welfare League will need help from the public, Busko said, saying that needed items include newspapers, blankets, towels, paper towels and monetary donations. They can be given at the Animal Welfare League’s gift and thrift shop, Menagerie, at 8044 E. Market Street in Howland, or the shelter, 545 Brunstetter Road, Lordstown.

There will also be a need for individuals to provide a foster home for some of the animals right away and possible permanent adoption later, Busko said.

Firster said he’s received calls recently from people concerned about the animals. “We had no idea of the volume of the animals until we got here,” Firster said.

Busko said Witzman was running a pet-rescue operation called Humane Sanctuary Inc., which has an Internet site saying it is a “no-kill shelter that was started about 14 years ago taking in unwanted, abandoned or abused animals.”

“Everybody starts out with good intentions, but they get overwhelmed,” Busko said of people who take on too many unwanted pets. “It’s just a sad situation all the way around. It’s tragic for the dogs and for her.”

Bill Thorp, who lives across the street, the only neighbor who lives close by, said Witzman moved in about eight years ago, and he’s complained to Witzman and authorities about the barking and odors. “I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since she moved over there,” he said.

runyan@vindy.com