Watertown men charged with 12 counts of animal cruelty

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - Two Watertown men face animal cruelty charges for allegedly mistreating 11 dogs and a ferret.

City police charged 61-year-old Steven Whitford and 33-year-old Mark Whitford at their 512 Stone Street home on Friday.

Police said Watertown’s city constable was in the process of evicting the Whitfords when the animals were discovered. The constable notified the police about the conditions.

Police charged each of the Whitfords with 12 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. They’re scheduled to appear in city court on April 19.

According to police, the Jefferson County SPCA and Jefferson County Dog Control took in the animals. Police had no information on their current conditions.

The Whitfords are accused of:

Failing to provide proper care and sustenance to a black cocker spaniel named “Chunk” resulting in the dog having fecal matter in his face and not having access to fresh water or food.
Failing to provide proper care and sustenance to a black and white healer mix dog named “Frank” resulting in the animal laying in his own urine and fecal matter so long that his white hair appeared yellow with fecal matter also matted in his fur, and not having access to fresh water or food.
Failing to provide proper care to a white ferret that was living in deplorable conditions with fecal matter stuck to the blanket in its cage and smeared on the house it stayed in with the bedding not having been changed for some time resulting in small black flies being attached to every part of the cage.
Failing to provide proper care and sustenance to a black and white healer mix dog named “Clarence” resulting in the animal laying in his own urine and fecal matter so long that his white hair appeared yellow with fecal matter also matted in his fur and not having access to water or food.
Failing to provide proper care and sustenance to a black and white lab/pit mix named “Lucy” that was only able to take a few steps at a time before laying back down, extremely lethargic and was hot to the touch with scarring on her back legs from gnawing at them repeatedly. The veterinarian later confirmed Lucy had pyometra, an infection of the uterus, which was not being treated and recommended euthanasia.
Failing to provide proper care and sustenance to a black cocker spaniel named “Mr Mr” resulting in the dog having fecal matter matted in his fur and not having access to fresh water or food.
Failing to provide proper care and sustenance to a brown and white pit mix named “Linna” resulting in the animal staying in a kennel where she could not sit up straight all the way and without access to fresh water or food.
Failing to provide proper care and sustenance to a brown lab named “Hersey” resulting in the dog becoming malnourished and emaciated where all of his rib were showing, with fecal matter matted in his fur and without access to food or fresh water.
Failing to provide proper care and sustenance to a black and white husky named “Nook” resulting in the animal laying in his own urine and fecal matter so long that his white hair appeared yellow, the kennel he was in was not big enough for him to stand up all the way or sit up straight when released from the kennel “Nook” had problems walking for several steps because his legs were shaking so much, and was without access to food or fresh water.
Failing to provide proper care and sustenance to a black and white poodle mix with an unknown name, resulting in the animal staying in his own urine and fecal matter so long that his white hair appeared yellow, while he was inside the enclosed front porch area with food or fresh water.
Failing to provide proper care and sustenance to a black and white poodle mix named “Toby” resulting in the animal staying in his own urine and fecal matter so long that his white hair appeared yellow, with a leash left hanging off him while he was inside the enclosed front porch area with food or fresh water.
Failing to provide proper care and sustenance to a blue tie hound dog named “Rutly” resulting in the dog becoming malnourished and so emaciated where all of his ribs and hip bones were showing as well as having open sores on each hip that were not being treated.