MIDDLEBURY — The arraignment in Addison Superior Court’s Criminal Division of three Addison County residents cited in Ferrisburgh on Oct. 7 on animal cruelty charges was postponed from Wednesday, Oct. 18, to Monday, Oct. 23, at 12:30 p.m.
Vermont State Police on Oct. 7 cited Ferrisburgh residents Katherine Ferguson, 61, and Thomas Ferguson, 51, and Bridport resident Roxanne Clark, 36, for animal cruelty following an Oct. 7 raid at a Burroughs Farm Road property in Ferrisburgh.
At around 12:30 p.m. that Saturday troopers from VSP’s New Haven barracks searched that property after obtaining a warrant. Members of two other agencies, Burlington Emergency and Veterinary Specialists and the Addison County Humane Society, known as Homeward Bound, helped with the search.
They seized 28 animals for what police called “poor living conditions and conditions of the animals.” The animals included 11 dogs, nine birds, and some cats, ferrets, guinea pigs, a hamster and a bearded dragon. VSP interviewed the Fergusons and Clark at the New Haven barracks, and they were cited and released.
Homeward Bound Executive Director Jessica Danyow said police have rarely asked the humane society to care for so many animals at once.
Additional details on the case should come to light when police affidavits are released after the arraignment, at which the Fergusons and Clark will enter pleas to the citations.