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Mom Makes Animal Concentration Camp, Loses Kids
A woman charged with creating an animal “concentration camp” in her backyard has now lost the two-legged critters she cared for – her own kids.
The head of the Suffolk County SPCA told CBS News the mass animal burial site uncovered in Sharon McDonough’s backyard was the “worst case” of animal abuse he’s ever seen. Coming from a twenty-five year veteran of animal cruelty investigations, that’s saying something.
McDonough has been accused of stealing animals from around her neighborhood, torturing them, killing them and burying twenty-some in her Long Island backyard.
Now a judge has ordered the single mom’s seven kids into foster care or to the care of her eldest son, a twenty-one-year-old who reportedly alerted authorities to his mom’s alleged proclivities. McDonough will be undergoing a psychiatric examination – in part because officials say the behavior began after the loss of her husband a year ago. The results of the exam will determine whether or not she gets the kids back.
Animal abuse is often the sign of an extremely disturbed mind, and one step below abuse on human beings. Even if she didn’t hurt the kids, living in the house where animals were being tortured is no way to grow up.
She’s pleading not guilty on the charges – and she wants her kids back. What do you think?
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8 Comments
[...] Does she get bad parent of the month award or are we reserving that for the mom who created an animal concentration camp in her backyard? [...]
Mom Doses Kid With Methadone To Get Her Pee | Strollerderby commented on Dec 01 09 at 4:32 pmcocobean commented on Nov 12 09 at 1:43 pmI don’t think that an animals life is a valuable as a human life BUT… someone who can hurt such a defensless & innocent creature shouldn’t have children. What will keep her from moving on to her children. This is seriously disturbing!
JuJuBe commented on Nov 12 09 at 5:55 pmIt’s not like she was simply torturing animals she was taking care of. The fact that she was stealing animals from her neighbors is a big deal. It shows malice towards her community, and the idea of her plotting to kidnap these animals for this purpose is really creepy.
jinxy commented on Nov 13 09 at 1:36 aman animals life may not be as “valuable” as human life, but i love my dog like my own child. crazy or not, this woman should not get her kids back….whos to say she wont begin torturing them next?
Sarah commented on Nov 13 09 at 6:40 amNot only should she not get her kids back, she should also go to jail for a long time. A standard needs to be set for animal abuse. People get off way too easy for it. This sounds psycological too, so if she goes to jail for 6 months and then does communitiy service…she will probably go back to pet-napping and torturing innocent animals.
eversoloud commented on Nov 13 09 at 8:44 amAbusing animals is vile, no two ways about it. But I think that the fact that officials are saying the abuse started a year ago after the death of her husband speaks to a psychological break down more so than to her being someone with insane, deviant tendencies. I read the animal abuse as being a symptom of a mental break down rather than premeditated crazy. Now, if she had been doing this for most of her life, then that would be a different story, and if it comes out that she has, well then….I take this all back.
scmite commented on Apr 06 10 at 8:02 pmComments How do you know this hasn’t been going on all of this womans life?? What effect will this have on her children?? You know serialkillers usually start out abusing animals then go on to people…Stricter penalties for animal abuses need to be put in force..
Crystal commented on Jan 22 12 at 12:11 amShe should never get her children back. A person capable of torturing and murdering animals is capable of doing it to humans. After all that is how serial killers start out.
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