Dogs' cages focus of animal cruelty trial

From wire cages to the stench of diarrhea, the living conditions of 32 dogs found confined in a garage took center stage Tuesday in the animal cruelty trial of dog seller Sylvia Guerra.

The dogs, mostly maltipoo puppies, a Maltese-poodle mix, were found without abundant water or food, several showing symptoms of illness, testified two San Antonio Animal Care Services workers who seized the dogs in August 2008.

?Every single crate had fecal matter that had been there more than a day,? said former ACS field operations officer Debbie Allen.

Guerra, 31, of Castroville, once based her dog-selling business Adorable Petz in San Antonio and is accused of animal cruelty in the case of two maltipoo puppies found ill in the 2008 search.

Prosecutors displayed dozens of photos of puppies housed in metal cages with wire flooring, the newspapers beneath soiled with bodily wastes. Some contained water or bowls of cooked rice and chicken; others did not.

?We're overcome by the reckless indifference she had to the condition of these dogs,? said prosecutor David Lunan.

Allen said she noticed how hot the garage was, and said it ?had a faint underlying odor of a disease dogs are prone to ? parvovirus,? she said.

Guerra's attorney, Robert Barrera, argued that the conditions didn't necessarily cause the dogs' bouts of parvovirus.

?Despite good care and good sanitary locations ... parvo can be spread by means that are almost unstoppable,? he said during opening arguments, a claim that ACS workers agreed was true.

He added that the dogs weren't as neglected as the prosecution depicted, pointing to evidence of an empty bag of dog food in the garbage and cooked food in the bowl of one of the sick dogs.

?Someone in that home was going out of their way to cook and feed those puppies rice and chicken,? Barrera said.

If convicted, Guerra faces up to 2 years in jail.

ssmith@express-news.net

Source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Dogs-cages-focus-of-animal-cruelty-trial-3714433.php

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