Brentwood Cruelty Case

(Seacoastonline.com)

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BRENTWOOD - A woman is facing animal cruelty charges for abandoning 13 cats, which were the subject of several police complaints as they were allegedly allowed to roam all over town.

 

Susan Chesley, 44, of Raymond, was arrested July 12, 2019, by Raymond police on an outstanding warrant from Brentwood police. She was charged with 13 counts of abandonment of her cats and 11 counts of animal cruelty against 11 of them.

 

The cats were suffering from malnutrition, fleas and parasite infestation, according to Brentwood Police Sgt. Daniel Wicks.

 

Wicks said Chesley was being evicted from a home on North Road and had been the subject of a number of law enforcement complaints from residents and animal rights groups for allegedly neglecting her cats, he said.

 

Wicks said an investigation into Chesley began earlier in July after his department began receiving complaints about Chesley’s sick cats wandering around town.

 

“In the cruelty cases, the cats were suffering from malnutrition, fleas and parasite infestation,” Wicks said. “(They were) generally in poor health.”

 

Wicks said with the assistance of Seacoast Area Feline Education & Rescue (SAFER) and the New Hampshire SPCA, the 13 cats were given medical treatment. Officials at the SPCA said Chesley renounced ownership of the cats to the animal shelter and they have since been put up for adoption, with some already finding new homes.

 

Wicks said there are still several cats on the North Road property, but law enforcement has so far been unable to tie the cats back to Chesley.

 

“While they are not feral, I’d say they are definitely averse to human contact,” Wicks said.

 

Chesley was released on a personal recognizance bail and she is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Aug. 29 in Rockingham County Superior Court. www.seacoastonline.com/news/20190731/cruelty-case-woman-allegedly-abandoned-13-cats