JACKSON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Two people have been arrested for animal cruelty after police found more than two dozen malnourished dogs and puppies in their home.
Jeremy McCroan, 35, and Alicia McCroan both face 22 counts of animal cruelty for more than two dozen dogs that were found living without food and water in an abandoned shack. The two people were arrested Saturday.
The dogs' rescue was sparked by a 17-year-old girl. The 17-year-old is a volunteer with the 4-H in Sneads.
Police say she kept noticing a dog on a road she regularly travels. The dog was malnourished and looked like it had recently given birth to puppies. The girl would take this dog with her on occasion and feed it and give it water, but she would always drop it back off in the same area.
As this became a consistent practice, she reported the dog to the Sneads Police Department with her suspicion that the dog belonged to someone in the area.
The Sneads Police Department began investigating and went out to a residence in that area in which the dog was believed to live.
The first time officers went out there, there were only a few dogs in sight. But upon returning for a second time, the officers counted more than 22 dogs outside the residence, 18 of them puppies.
The owners said they could not afford to feed the dogs and had let the situation get out of hand. The animals were transported to the Humane Society in Chipley.
The couple had a child in the home, and the child is now living with the grandmother.
