76-year-old Oak Grove woman charged with animal abuse after 48 dogs removed from property

A 76-year-old Oak Grove woman was charged with animal abuse on Wednesday, a day after the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office removed nearly 50 dogs from her property.

The dogs were being kept in “filthy and unsafe conditions,” according to a statement from Jackson County prosecutors. Ellen L. Schreiner was charged with three counts of felony animal abuse.

Acting on a tip, sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday went to Schreiner’s property in the 7000 block of South Hillside School Road, south of Interstate 70 near Oak Grove. According to court records, they found about 25 white dogs in an outside building. Other animals were found inside the home and in a garage, where deputies found food and water dishes empty or filled with urine-tained water.

Inside the home, deputies were met with an “overpowering stench from the dog feces on the floor.” Employees from the Great Plains SPCA came to the property to help the deputies. A cat was also removed, and shelter workers named her Hope.

One dog was blind, suffered from mange and showed difficulty walking. Another dog had an amputated left leg that was bloody and appeared infected. A third dog appeared emaciated and suffered from an eye infection.

When Schreiner was arrested, prosecutors requested a bond of $25,000 cash.

She had previously been found guilty in 1997 of animal abuse in a Jackson County case.

The animals were taken in by the Great Plains SPCA shelter in Independence, where volunteers and staff started the day early, giving all 48 of the dogs a bath, said Rachel Hodgson, a spokeswoman for the shelter.

The dogs showed a wide variety of health problems, and will need more care before they are put up for adoption. “Some are doing better than others,” Hodgson said. “It takes a lot of lovin’, and that’s just what we’re giving them now.”

Anyone who donates $30 to the shelter can name one of the dogs.

Even before the influx of dogs on Tuesday, the shelter was in critical need of resources to care for the animals it had, Hodgson said. A private donor is matching every dollar donated to the shelter until Oct. 15.

The shelter will post information about adoptions to its Facebook page. For more information about the shelter and Great Plains SPCA, visit greatplainsspca.org.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 3:46 PM.