Local man charged with 27 counts of animal cruelty

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June 16, 2008

<a href="mailto:avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com">By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG</a> The Press Republican Mon Jun 16, 2008, 11:32 AM EDT

WILLSBORO — Amid high temperatures and humidity last week, authorities were shocked to find more than a dozen cats left at a Willsboro home without any food or water.

The Essex County Sheriff’s Department said Monday that the cats were found confined inside an Arnold Way mobile home, where they had been “left without any food or water for an extended period of time.”

Authorities, acting on an anonymous tip called in to the North Country SPCA in Westport, found the starving animals at Clarence “Butch” Ahrent’s former residence.

Inside the home, which was covered in animal feces, were 12 dead cats and another 15 seriously malnourished.

Based on the remains, officials said it appeared as though some of the animals had been deceased for some time.

“It was clear the animals hadn’t been fed or watered” in a while, Deputy Robert Rice said Monday, although they likely could have survived had they not been kept locked inside the home.

Ahrent hasn’t lived there in more than a month, he said.

He was charged with 27 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and is expected to face the charges in Willsboro Town Court on June 19.

The deputy said the case has “a lot of extenuating circumstances” and that he didn’t think Ahrent was intentionally malicious to the animals but was “overwhelmed” and “grief stricken” by recent circumstances in his life.

The 53-year-old Willsboro man has been living with his daughter since his wife died in late April and told the Sheriff’s Department that he thought other people were tending to his wife’s pets.

Officials said Ahrent let them into the home Friday morning and later helped them remove the remaining cats.

The surviving cats were taken to Adirondack Veterinary Hospital for treatment.

Officials said that almost immediately, two cats had to be euthanized.

Rice said he believed the others have been making a recovery and were taken to North Country SPCA for additional care.

Ahrent could not be reached for comment Monday morning.

E-mail Andrea VanValkenburg at:

avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com