The owner of a dog shelter in Bucksport pleaded innocent Tuesday to several charges stemming from the deaths of six dogs in her care.
Ellisha Krutuleski, 44, was indicted last month by a Hancock County grand jury on six felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and one misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals. She is accused of neglecting nearly three dozen dogs, causing six of them to die, while they were under her care at her shelter, Coastal Dreams Rescue and Sanctuary on Millvale Road, according to court documents.
Krutuleski made a court appearance via Zoom on Tuesday to answer to the charges, and pleaded not-guilty to all seven. The six aggravated cruelty charges are all felonies which, with a conviction, are each punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The seventh charge is a misdemeanor which is punishable by up to 364 days incarceration and a $2,000 fine.
Krutuleski remains free on $500 cash bail.
State animal welfare agents seized 27 living dogs at the shelter on July 30 and removed six more. The dead dogs were kept as evidence and the surviving ones were taken to other shelters under a state law that allows for animals to be removed when their owner is institutionalized, according to court documents.
“The majority of the 27 live dogs removed were very thin, with a poor body condition,” Doug Radziewicz, a humane agent with Maine’s animal welfare program, wrote in an arrest affidavit. “Many dogs had severely overgrown toenails, some with untreated sores or wounds, filthy coats that emitted a powerful odor of urine and/or feces due to the condition of the kennels or crates or stalls they were housed in.”
Radziewicz said there was food at the shelter that the dogs did not have access to.
“Alarming was the abundance of dry and canned dog food that was stored in the personal living space of Krutuleski,” he wrote in the affidavit.
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