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Wednesday 10 February, 2010
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Ballston Lake family barred from owning animals
BRIAN BECKLEY, Community News
08/02/2002
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SPCA caring for neglected dogs

CLIFTON PARK -- All of the animals taken from a suspected ''puppy mill'' on Ballston Lake Road were turned over to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals July 24 and the owners were restricted from owning any more animals for one year.

Susan and Thomas Wifladt and their son, Richard Sagendorf, are each charged with one misdemeanor count of failure to provide adequate sustenance for allegedly keeping 35 dogs, one cat and four birds in filthy conditions at their 1114 Ballston Lake Road home.

SPCA Executive Director Cathy Cloutier said the Wifladts' release of the animals will allow them to be spade or neutered and adopted out to other families.

''They are living creatures and do not need to be waiting around,'' she said.

The Wifladts were also required to pay the medical bills for the animals, a total estimated by Cloutier at nearly $2,700.

''When you have 35 dogs, four birds and a cat Ð that bill can add up,'' Cloutier said.

Sagendorf was charged on June 26 following a raid of the Ballston Lake Road home. According to affidavits signed by Cloutier and SPCA investigator Nicholas Fisher, conditions inside the house were very bad and the animals were cramped into small, dirty crates. Many of the animals' fur was matted with urine and feces and Cloutier said most of the animals had health problems including worms, eye infections and skin problems.

The suit also alleges that the animals were not given proper food or water inside the house.

Sagendorf told police he was watching the animals for his parents, who were on vacation. The Wifladts were charged July 18, upon returning to town, but Cloutier said the conditions in the house had nothing to do with the vacation.

''This did not happen in the time those people were on vacation,'' she said.

Cloutier also said the court order mandating the Wifladts have no animals for one year is ''a step in the right direction.'' Because many of the animals were purebred Pekinese or poodle puppies, investigators believe the Wifladts may have been running a ''puppy mill.''

Cloutier said she would like to see the Wifladts not be able to own any animals for three years.

The case has been adjourned until Aug. 14 at the request of the Wifladts' attorney, John Pastore. The charges carry a possible penalty of a fine of up to $1,000 and one year in jail.

Several calls to Pastore were not returned.


©Community News 2010

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