Two charged in NEK animal cruelty case

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A Northeast Kingdom woman and her son are facing animal cruelty charges after a raid in which authorities found dozens of living and dead animals in their home. The house was infested with fleas, maggots and rotting carcasses.

Animal Control Officer Josephine Guertin says it has to be the worst case of animal abuse in the history of Vermont.

Five cats, two ferrets, a lizard, a gecko, a rabbit, a python, a mouse, a malnourished dog and many other animals were rescued from the home on Route 5 in Barnet during last Wednesday’s incident.

Also found was a decomposing animal of unknown type in a pot on a stove, and more than a dozen partially frozen dead animals in a freezer.

Seventy-year-old Pauline Harpin and son Paul Harpin were charged with animal cruelty and cited into Vermont District Court on September 8.

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