BLOOMINGDALE PRESS

By Janice Hoppe, jhoppe@mysuburbanlife.com
Bloomingdale Press
Thu Sep 03, 2009, 01:52 PM CDT

Bloomingdale, IL -
A Bloomingdale shelter went to court in late August to show it was following court orders with veterinarian visits and to produce those records to the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
Pet Rescue, 151 N. Bloomingdale Road, and two of its officials were charged last year with misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and violation of owners’ duties for allegedly mistreating about a dozen cats and dogs.
Attorney Rick Schoenfield is representing Pet Rescue’s director Penny Horak of Winfield. Shelter President Dale Armon of Berkeley and the corporation each have hired separate attorneys.
Schoenfield said the hearing that occurred in Springfield in late August involved provided records to the Department of Agriculture.
“We believe the records have been produced and they weren’t required to produce the records,” Schoenfield said. “Inspections are one thing and asking us to go and produce this is another.”
Schoenfield will represent Horak in the Sept. 21 criminal trial in the DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton. He said the misdemeanor charges allege she didn’t provide veterinary care to the animals in the shelter.
“We believe that the sentence will be found not guilty and (she will be) vindicated after the trial,” Schoenfield said.
Operation Mia is a group of former Pet Rescue volunteers who are trying to inform the public about the way animals are treated at the shelter and get the place closed permanently. Group leader Kris Neshim said she worked in the shelter for only a couple of months and couldn’t stand the way the animals are treated.
“(The animals) were not taken care of medically,” Neshim said. “They were all very ill. Since we have started a year ago, (many) cats have died.”
For 30 years, former Pet Rescue volunteers have been trying to close the shelter because of what they say are poor conditions for the animals kept there.
“No one thought it would go this long and this many would die,” Neshim said