WGN CHICAGO BREAKING NEWS STORY

Pet Rescue shelter agrees to give up animals

January 19, 2010 3:56 PM

Pet Rescue, the controversial Bloomingdale animal shelter, agreed today to turn over nearly 200 animals to other shelters approved by the state.DuPage Judge Ronald Sutter signed an agreed order that calls for the shelter at 151 N. Bloomingdale Road to give its current collection of 149 cats, 29 dogs, 15 doves, two guinea pigs and one rabbit to other animal shelters that are approved by the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
The state had taken away the shelter's license last year, but the operators were able to keep the animals they currently had. Criminal charges filed in 2008 against the shelter's two operators -- Dale Armon, 74, of Berkeley, the owner of the shelter, and Penny Horak, 69, of Winfield, a director of the shelter -- are still pending.Both of them have been charged with more than a dozen misdemeanor charges of animal neglect. The charges stem from complaints of overcrowding and insufficient treatment of the animals, resulting in some of them being euthanized.Neither one was in court Today.The state agriculture department took away the shelter's license last November, citing improper record maintenance of the animals in their care. The shelter has been in operation since 1973, according to court records.-- Art Barnum