Woman charged with Animal Cruelty after 100 animals taken from her home

Kathryn Marie Decker, Courtesy of Walker County Government

LAFAYETTE, Ga. (WDEF) – Investigators have charged a North Georgia woman with aggravated animal cruelty after finding more than a hundred animals in rundown conditions at her home.

After trying to investigate a complaint on Wednesday, 70-year-old Kathryn Marie Decker refused to allow animal control officers to inspect her home near LaFayette.

Once they got the paperwork to do so, they say they found one dead cat and dozens of more chained to a tree and living in stacked crates.

Even then, they say Decker interfered.

The deputy on the scene wrote “she then began to argue more and stated that she knows her rights and that she was not leaving until she calls her legal people.”

He arrested her, but she slipped out of her cuffs in the squad car.

After several days, they removed 98 cats and 3 dogs.

They moved them to a temporary shelter site in LaFayette.

The animals will remain there until the court proceedings are over.

Officials say more than half of them needed some kind of treatment.

Dicker was also charged with willful obstruction of a law enforcement officer.

Courtesy of Walker County Government