A certified wildlife rehabilitator in New York has been arrested after authorities found more than 200 wild and domestic animals — including flying squirrels, hedgehogs, pigeons, and chipmunks — and also a 95-year-old woman was discovered living in filthy conditions inside her home, prosecutors said.Samantha Boyd, 57, of Northport, and her partner, Neal Weschler, 61, were charged with animal cruelty. The district attorney’s Biological, Environmental and Animal Safety Team (BEAST) executed a search warrant at Boyd’s home on Fort Salonga Road on Wednesday after receiving a complaint of possible animal hoarding, NBC news reported. “On-site investigation allegedly revealed numerous animals living in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions,” the district attorney’s office said. The domestic and wild animals—206 in total—included roosters, squirrels, ducks, pigeons, quail, rabbits, crows, starlings, geese, chipmunks, doves, chickens, hamsters, ferrets, guinea pigs, hedgehogs, voles, flying squirrels, parakeets, parrots, cockatoos, chinchillas, cats, tortoises, dogs, turkeys and other species. District Attorney Raymond Tierney called the case “a deeply distressing situation.” “Animal cruelty and neglect will not be tolerated in our county,” he said in a statement. The animals were allegedly found in cages containing “piles of waste and filth” and unsanitary water and food, the district attorney’s office said. The house was also allegedly “infested with insects, spiders, and other pests,” as well as cluttered with “wall-to-wall debris, garbage, and household waste, making certain areas impassable.” The 95-year-old woman was found on the second floor of the home, allegedly trapped by the debris, the district attorney’s office said. It is unclear what relationship she has to Boyd or Weschler. All of the animals were rescued from the home by the BEAST unit and several nonprofits, prosecutors said. Boyd was charged with one count of endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person and five counts of neglecting an impounded animal, according to court records. She has since been arraigned and pleaded not guilty to the charges. According to New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), wildlife rehabilitators “aid in the care and recuperation of injured or sick wild animals.”
