- Oklahoma, USA -
KFOR reports that on Friday, February 12, Stephen’s County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to a property in the 2400 block of North Highway 81 to perform a welfare check after receiving a report that someone may have been injured or killed at the location.
After obtaining and executing a search warrant, deputies discovered the body of a woman in an outbuilding, and a suspected puppy mill containing 165 dogs living in “deplorable” conditions.
Stephens County Sheriff Wayne McKinney called in the Stephens County Humane Society for assistance, and board members Kelly Nelson and Patti Whitaker, responded to the scene.
Ms. Nelson and Ms. Whitaker told KFOR they were staggered by the rancid conditions the dogs were kept in.
Ms. Nelson said the dogs were each kept in small cages stacked on top of one another.
They had no water, no food, and no shelter.
The poor souls were matted, filthy, scared, and hungry.
Ms. Nelson added: “They had a lot of sores and matting and health conditions that had not been taken care of, like ear infections and dental work. They were not thin as in starving thin, [but] they were neglected.”
Ms. Nelson was the coordinator on site.
She explained: “We had a coordinator at the shelter. So, my job was as the sheriff told us what to do, I was coordinating with the people who were sent to pick up the animals for the night.”
KFOR reports that the furbabies were taken to local animal clinics and boarding locations, such as More Than Pets in Duncan.
The following day, Saturday, February 13, Ms. Nelson returned to the property to coordinate turning the dogs over to the Humane Society of Tulsa and Humane Emergency Animal Response Team (HEART).
The Tulsa Humane Society and HEART workers examined, documented, took pictures of and tagged each dog and transported them to their facilities in Tulsa, along with a cat and two sheep that were also found on the property, reports KFOR.
The Stephens County Humane Society sent out an emergency Facebook message requesting hay and straw to give the dogs warm bedding.
The community stepped in an amazing way and help just poured in.
Ms. Nelson said: “It was huge. This was the worst I’ve ever seen humans do to animals, and last night was the best I’d ever seen humans respond to what happened to these animals.”
Deputies have arrested the owner of the property, 49-year-old KAREN JEAN PRICHARD (pictured below), of Marlow.
PRICHARD was booked into the Stephens County Detention Center on animal cruelty and suspicion of second-degree murder.
Some of the pictures have been shared from the Stephens County Humane Society of Oklahoma Facebook page.
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Details may be removed or additional information may be provided in future should such sources report an update.
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