Events & Entertainment
Yellow PagesWoman with 56 dogs seeks court order
- Original Newsday.com article: Woman with 56 dogs seeks court order
Far from being a heartless animal abuser out to make a fast buck, an East Northport woman accused of illegally breeding dogs says in court documents expected to be filed Wednesday that she ran an honest animal rescue service 'without any profit or gain.'
In a sworn affidavit provided by her attorney, Irene Monroig, 66, asks a state Supreme Court judge to issue a temporary restraining order baring the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals from spaying, neutering, placing for adoption or euthanizing 56 small dogs and a parrot seized from Monroig's home last Tuesday.
The legal action, according to Monroig's attorney, shows that rather than being an irresponsible dog handler as prosecutors and the animal welfare agency contend, Monroig is concerned for their well being.
'She loves them very much,' said Naiburg. 'We're saying that we want medical exams done on the animals.'
Last Tuesday, Huntington Town inspectors, Suffolk police and officers from the animal agency said they removed 56 dogs - mostly small breeds of poodles and shih tzus - and a parrot from Monroig's Wicks Road home after seeking permission to enter the house. The seizure came after complaints by neighbors over two years, officials said.
Since then, Suffolk prosecutors have said they are awaiting a review of the animals' health to decide how they will proceed. Monroig has not been criminally charged.
But in the affidavit, Monroig says she was not shown a warrant authorizing officials to enter her home and remove the animals. And she defends herself as a selfless animal lover whose work giving free medical care to abandoned dogs was known to the town and her neighbors.
'My possession of the aforesaid dogs was not part of a 'puppy mill,' Monroig says in the affidavit, 'but was an animal rescue endeavor which I have been engaged in at this same location for more than 45 years.'
Monroig was disciplined seven years ago for sloppy record-keeping, according to the American Kennel Club.
Prosecutors did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk animal welfare agency, did not immediately return a call.
Copyright © 2008 Newsday.com, All Rights Reserved.
Please note by clicking on "Post Comment" you acknowledge that you have read the Terms of Service and the comment you are posting is in compliance with such terms. Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed by the moderator. Send us your feedback.
East Northport, NY Forum
Have you had Problems with Village Po...
