DAVE HUGHES
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

CLARKSVILLE — Two Johnson County women have been charged with felony cruelty to animals after a large dog-breeding operation was discovered earlier this month, authorities said.

Christine Yarrington, 60, and Lynn Elise Burkett, 51, both of rural Lamar, were each charged in Johnson County Circuit Court on Thursday with eight counts of aggravated cruelty to animals. Authorities previously had not identified the women.

Sheriff’s deputies, and officials and volunteers with the Humane Society of the United States served a search warrant on the women’s rural property Oct. 6 and discovered 96 dogs, five cats and two guinea pigs reportedly living in squalid conditions.

Animal cruelty in Arkansas previously could be prosecuted only as a misdemeanor offense regardless of the circumstances. A new law that went into effect this summer provides for some animal-cruelty cases to be prosecuted as felonies. If the women are convicted, they could be sentenced to up to six years in prison and fined up to $10,000 on each count.

Yarrington and Burkett were arrested on warrants Thursday. Johnson County Chief Deputy Sheriff Jerry Dorney said both women appeared Friday morning before Circuit Judge William Pearson, who set bail at $5,000 each. Dorney said Burkett was in the Polk County jail on unrelated charges and Yarrington was in the Johnson County jail.

Johnson County deputy prosecutor Bruce Wilson said Friday that he filed eight counts against each woman, even though there were more than 100 animals taken from the property, because those eight counts represented the most serious abuse cases and rose to the level of felonies. The state chose the strongest cases it could against the women, he said.

Those who went onto the property reportedly found emaciated animals, primarily Shih Tzus and Chihuahuas, that also had skin and eye infections, and heavily matted fur. Many lived in wire cages with floors covered in several inches of hair, dirt and feces, and many had feces tangled in their fur.

An affidavit for the arrest warrants stated that nearly all of the animals needed medical treatment. It also said the animals suffered from dehydration, excessive hair loss, dermatitis, flea infestation, severely overgrown nails, ear mites, ear infections, dental disease, untreated skin conditions and extreme matted fur from neglected grooming.

Dorney said the women are to appear in circuit court again next Friday.