SPCA, Rescue Ink Clash Over Selden, NY Animal Cruelty Case

Nazi-like Sharon McDonough forced her children to torture and abuse animals, then kill them and bury them in her yard. Her son couldn't take it any longer and called RESCUE INK for help.

Groups clash over Selden animal cruelty case

November 9, 2009 By PATRICK WHITTLE  patrick.whittle@newsday.com

QUICK SUMMARY

Sharon McDonough was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty on Saturday after five neglected dogs and a cat were recovered from her home.

Photo credit: James Carbone | Lisa Donay, a worker at Pet Supplies/Grooming in Farmingville, holds a cocker spaniel that was rescued from a Selden woman's home. (Nov. 8, 2009)

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The case of Sharon McDonough, charged with animal cruelty, took a bizarre turn Monday when members of animal welfare group Rescue Ink interrupted a Suffolk SPCA news conference to accuse the SPCA of mishandling the case.

McDonough, 43, of Selden, was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty on Saturday after five neglected dogs and a cat were recovered from her home. Twenty other dead animals, all believed to be dogs, were dug up from her backyard. She pleaded not guilty to the charges Sunday.

The SPCA, which removed the animals from the home and is still investigating the case, held a news conference in a Farmingville pet store Monday with the intention of asking the public for more information about the case.

But several members of Rescue Ink, a Long Beach-based group that describes itself on its Web site as a "bunch of tattooed, motorcycle-riding tough guys who have joined together to fight animal cruelty," co-opted the news conference before it began. A member who goes by the nickname Joe Panz said McDonough's six young children, including an 18-month-old, "have been let down by everybody" and accused the SPCA of leaving the children out of the dogs' adoption process.

A shouting match ensued between Panz and Michelle Curtin, director of Second Chance Wildlife Rescue, a group holding the animals for the SPCA. Suffolk police arrived minutes later and escorted Rescue Ink members out of the pet store.

Curtin called Rescue Ink's actions "a media stunt," citing a crew filming them for the group's reality cable TV show.

Suffolk SPCA chief Roy Gross said only one dog has been adopted, by an SPCA detective, he said. The other dogs, and a cat, are still rehabilitating, Gross said. He also said the SPCA contacted Sharon McDonough's oldest son, Doug, 21, and that he said he is unable to care for the animals at this time.

Panz and his colleagues maintained after the dust-up that SPCA's handling of the case was "haphazard."

Suffolk police said no one was arrested.

McDonough is scheduled to appear in First District Court in Central Islip Tuesday. Attempts to reach her and Doug McDonough were unsuccessful.

Doug McDonough told reporters on Saturday that his mother forced his sisters to torture animals. A spokesman for the state Office of Child and Family Services declined to comment. Gross and Suffolk police have declined to comment on the allegation.

Gross said authorities are investigating allegations from neighbors that Sharon McDonough stole their pets. The McDonough house, defaced by the words "Killer" and "Guilty" painted on the mailbox and garage, was cordoned off Monday.

A note from the Suffolk Division of Public Health was taped to McDonough's front door Monday, saying the agency wanted to know about "bags of human feces in the backyard and garage." A spokeswoman did not return a call for comment.

Pet Graveyard from Hell and Child Abuse in Selden, NY — "Animal Concentration Camp"

Selden woman charged with animal cruelty

November 7, 2009 By KATIE SERIGNESE. Special to Newsday

QUICK SUMMARY

Authorities were at the home Saturday afternoon digging in the backyard, according to the SPCA.

Photo credit: Ed Betz | An SPCA Officer reacts as another officer unearths animal remains in Selden.

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An official said at least 20 carcasses were dug up Saturday from the backyard of a Selden woman who was charged with animal cruelty after her pets were seized by the SPCA.

>> Read the latest news on the Sharon McDonough animal cruelty case

>>>PHOTOS: Selden woman accused of animal cruelty

In an eerie scene, SPCA detectives working in a floodlit yard last night dug up one reeking black plastic garbage bag after another, the contents unrecognizable. At times, the smell was overpowering.

Regarding the carcasses dug up Saturday, as well as another found Thursday, "we still have to make determination on the cause of death and any forthcoming charges," Chief Roy Gross of the Suffolk Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said.

Of one carcass that was found, Gross said, "There is suspected foul play with this animal." He encouraged anyone with information to call the SPCA at 631-382-7722 and said calls would be kept confidential.

Sharon McDonough, 43, of 18 Awixa Place, was arrested Saturday and charged with a misdemeanor count of animal cruelty after five dogs were found in the house Thursday in feces, housed in small cages with no food or water, Gross said. A cat, bird and hamster were also taken from the house, Gross said.

McDonough lives in the home with her seven children, who range in age from 18 months to 21, neighbors said.

Authorities went to the home after complaints from neighbors and the animal rescue group Rescue Ink.

Prosecutors were investigating allegations that neighborhood pets were buried in McDonough's backyard, Suffolk district attorney spokesman Bob Clifford said Friday. SPCA investigators obtained a search warrant to dig.

It was unclear last night whether the SPCA would continue to dig in the yard.

The woman's son, Doug, had a fight with his mother Thursday and called Rescue Ink, according to Toniann McKee, 42, of Islip Terrace, who said she is the aunt of Doug McDonough's girlfriend.

McKee went to the home last night with her niece and Doug McDonough; the couple went into the home to retrieve a photo of Sharon McDonough and remained in the house with police, McKee said. Doug McDonough emerged later but declined to comment. No one else appeared to be home.

Neighbors said they were stunned. They said the children were well-behaved and that Sharon McDonough appeared to be a mindful mother who met her children at the bus stop and would stop to chat with neighbors.

"We're in complete shock," said a neighbor who did not want to be identified.

Another neighbor who did not want to give her name said the family had lived for 14 or 15 years in the subdivision, called Nature's Gardens.

They said the children's father was killed when he collided with a truck as he drove to work. Darren McDonough, 41, died in May 2008 when he made a sudden U-turn in front of a container truck, Suffolk police said at the time. They said the truck driver was not charged.

After the accident, area residents came together, buying the children school supplies, Christmas presents and bunk beds, and a neighbor was helping fix up the backyard, residents said.

The two-story home, however, appeared dilapidated last night, with an overgrown, debris-piled backyard where the detectives worked under floodlights borrowed from the Selden Fire Department.

Statues of dogs dotted the front yard, which also had a mailbox with a dog's face.

Crime scene tape was strung across the front steps. A sport utility vehicle was parked in front of the house, stickers of children and dogs on the back.

With Keith Herbert

>>>PHOTOS: Selden woman accused of animal cruelty