A woman guilty of keeping more than 100 cats in her home, many of them dead and decaying, was sentenced on animal cruelty charges.

Health officials said this is the first time in Clark County that someone has been sentenced to jail for cruelty to animals.

Loyce Ogden and her boyfriend, Craig Hunt, were sentenced Monday on animal cruelty charges.

Health officials said they found 124 cats in Ogden’s home. They said 71 of them were dead and stuffed into garbage bags.

Ogden was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

On Monday, Hunt, who lived in the house, said the punishment did not fit the crime.

He said, “There’s this talk about hoarding animals. Not right in this case. She absolutely loved animals.”

Last fall, Hunt and Ogden pleaded guilty to five charges each of animal cruelty. Prosecutors pushed for jail time for Ogden, who they said was mainly to blame for the unsanitary conditions and dead cats that forced health officials to condemn the house.

Hunt said, “If you have a lot of animals in a small space, then there is going to be a lot of damage. That is what happened here.”

Hunt was sentenced to $1,000 in fines and probation. He and Ogden were ordered to undergo counseling for what Clark County officials have called the worst animal cruelty case they have ever seen.

Hunt will also be doing community service at the Humane Society as part of his sentence. Officials there said they plan to teach him the correct way to care for animals.

In the meantime, the Humane Society director said they are pushing the judge to rule that Ogden can never again own another animal.

source: whiotv.com

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