- Alabama, USA -
On Friday, September 29, 2023, Colbert County authorities executed a search warrant on a property in Cherokee.
Corey Speegle, the director of animal services at the Colbert County Animal Shelter, told Fox News Digital that back in June he received reports of dead horses on the property which prompted an investigation. On September 25, 2023, Speegle received another report, and after presenting it to both the sheriff’s office and district attorney’s office, a search warrant was executed.
County Animal Services and State Bureau of Investigation found at least twenty-nine (29) dead horses as well as ten (10) live horses who were suffering from starvation, and nearly fifty (50) dogs who were living in horrible conditions. Additionally, officials discovered skeletal remains of two dogs. One of the deceased horses was found in a pond.
Speegle told Fox News Digital the conditions “were bad as the hair on the majority of the dogs was matted, and they were living in urine and feces. Some of the dogs were so matted that it was difficult to find the eyes. The dogs were also covered in bugs and cockroaches.”
“This was a puppy mill,” added Speegle.
All the surviving animals, including horses, dogs, donkeys, and mules, were removed from the property, and taken to the Colbert County Animal Shelter.
On Saturday, September 30, 2023, deputies with the Colbert County Sheriff’s Office arrested 63-years-old DEBRA JANE CATLEDGE (pictured) on fifteen (15) counts of animal cruelty. CATLEDGE was booked into the Colbert County Jail and released the following day after posting $12,250 bond.
WAFF reports that CATLEDGE was then arrested again on the evening of Tuesday, October 3, 2023, on state charges of twenty-eight (28) counts of failing to bury or burn dead animals.
Through Facebook posts, the Colbert County Animal Shelter thanked the volunteers who came out and helped and everyone who stepped up to assist the shelter with monetary donations and food.
On a separate note, News 19 reports that CATLEDGE “is not a stranger to animal-related cases with law enforcement. She was convicted in 2013 after authorities rescued more than 120 small dogs that were found in cages outside her home.”
After pleading guilty to the animal cruelty charges, CATLEDGE spent some time in jail and according to a plea agreement, she was no longer allowed to breed animals.
Colbert County Sheriff Eric Balentine told News 19: “After she did her 14 days, she was ‘out of sight, out of mind’ and I’m not pointing fingers because I don’t know whose at fault for that… I’m just saying after this, as long as I’m in office, somebody is going to keep an eye on what’s going on.”
As I always say, animal abusers are toxic. Toxic people do not change, they only change their victims!
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Details may be removed or additional information may be provided in future should such sources report an update.
CATLEDGE’s mugshot shared from the Colbert County Jail.
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