Blackwell resident, Janet Harrington, has been charged with cruelty to animals. On Aug. 30 Animal Control Officer Cindy Yinger received a call from Harrington who told ACO Yinger that her mastiff was sick, dying, or had already died. Two weeks prior to this encounter, Harrington surrendered two dogs to ACO Yinger. When ACO Yinger arrived on the scene she detected a fowl odor coming from the female mastiff and noticed that the Mastiff was breathing heavily and had fluid dripping to of its rear end.

The defendant, Janet Harrington, informed ACO Yinger that the mastiff had been in this condition for roughly a week and had been so since she had puppies. The defendant did not take the mastiff to the veterinarian and informed ACO Yinger that the puppies had passed away. ACO Yinger got into contact with Big Dogs Huge Paws rescue for help in the case. ACO Yinger observed a large quantity of maggots in various stages on the mastiff. When asked if she knew about the issue, the defendant informed ACO Yinger that she did know about them.

After the defendant signed over the Mastiff to ACO Yinger, the mastiff was rushed to a facility in Oklahoma City with the help of Big Dogs Huge Paws Rescue. Unfortunately on their way to Oklahoma City they had to make an emergency stop in Perkins due to the mastiff no longer responding. The mastiff was brought into Bench Mark Animal Hospital unresponsive, 105.1 temperature, weak pulse, and pale and tacky gums. Within two minutes the mastiff had atonal breathing, no pupillary response, and no corneal reflex.

Dr. Mauzerall stated that the mastiff has a body score of 2 out of 9, ideal being a 5. There were numerous maggots along the back end and inside of the mastiff and it had an infestation of fleas and ticks. The mastiff was deceased within 5 minutes of arriving to the Animal Hospital. The final cause of death was untreated uterine infection with sepsis.

Dr. Mauzerall advised that this could have been prevented and that it was one of the worst cases of neglect that she has ever seen and that the disregard of life was apparent.

The defendant advised Sgt. Landers that she will be getting a lawyer because she did nothing wrong.