A Centre County woman facing animal cruelty charges is accused of abandoning five dogs, two of which are still missing, in a remote wooded area during freezing temperatures.
Tammy M. Auman, 54, of Boggs Township, was charged on Wednesday with five misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and five summary counts of animal neglect.
Auman admitted to leaving the dogs in a wooded area of nearby Clinton County with the hope that someone else would find and care for them, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Centre County Sheriff’s Office Humane Officer Mark Rusnak.
Rusnak first responded in late September to a residence owned by Auman on the 400 block of Broadway Street in Milesburg and observed through the window five dogs inside living in unsanitary conditions, according to an affidavit of probable cause. A neighbor told Rusnak that the dogs were not abandoned and that Auman typically returned to the house in the afternoon or evening.
On Nov. 26, Rusnak learned through a relative of Auman’s that she had moved to a residence in Boggs Township and Rusnak asked the relative to have Auman contact him, according to the affidavit.
Auman called Rusnak on Dec. 2 and said she had taken three dogs — two fewer than Rusnak had observed — to another relative’s home in Snow Shoe, the officer wrote. Rusnak returned to the Milesburg residence and found there were no longer any dogs inside, according to the affidavit.
After seeing on Dec. 20 a Clinton County SPCA Facebook post depicting five dogs roaming in a remote wooded area several miles north of Lock Haven, Rusnak reviewed photos and videos he had taken and determined that they were the same dogs he observed inside the Milesburg home.
Rusnak returned to the Milesburg residence on Dec. 22 and encountered Auman, who during questioning admitted that she drove the dogs to a remote wooded area in Clinton County on Nov. 28 and intentionally left them there, according to the affidavit.
One of the dogs was captured and in the care of a Jersey Shore veterinarian that Rusnak visited on Jan. 6. The dog was described as “extremely underweight” and had sustained porcupine quills embedded in its face. Rusnak also visited the Clinton County SPCA, where two more of the missing dogs were being cared for.
Rusnak interviewed Auman on Tuesday and she again admitted to abandoning the five dogs “in hopes they would seek out other people who would care for them.”
Auman’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 25.
