A Montague woman will be summonsed to appear in court on animal cruelty charges after police on Wednesday found several pets had been left alone in her East Main Street apartment for at least a week.
MONTAGUE - A Montague woman will be summonsed to appear in court on animal cruelty charges after police on Wednesday found several pets had been left alone in her East Main Street apartment for at least a week.
Police removed five dogs from the apartment at 310 West St. and brought them to a local vet for treatment, said Sgt. Richard Suchanek of the Montague police.
"They were in bad shape, real bad shape," he said.
Police also found a cat, a snake and a lizard in the apartment, he said.
The interior was filled with animal waste and police called in the town Board of Health to determine if the apartment was habitable.
Police were called to the apartment by neighbors reporting neglect of animals.
Neighbors told police that the resident had been gone "for a week or so" and apparently did not arrange for anyone to feed her pets or take the dogs outside, Suchanek said.
She will be issued a summons to appear in court on charges related to animal cruelty, Suchanek said. Police were not releasing her name until the summons is issued, he said.
She agreed to surrender ownership of the dogs to the police.