ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Two Johnson County women charged with felony animal cruelty for running a mass dog breeding operation were sentenced to probation and given fines after they pleaded no contest to all eight counts against them.

Deputy prosecutor Bruce Wilson said Christine Yarrington, 60, and Lynn Burkett, 51, were sentenced Wednesday in Johnson County Circuit Court to five years’ probation and were fined $1,500 each, plus court costs.

They also were prohibited from having any animals in their possession and were ordered to undergo counseling on proper ownership and treatment of animals, Wilson said.

The women also were given 41 days’ credit for time served in jail pending trial, he said. If convicted at trial, the women could have been sentenced to as many as six years in prison and fined up to $10,000 on each count.

The sisters were arrested and charged in October with cruelty to animals after Johnson County sheriff’s deputies and members of the Humane Society of the United States raided their property north of Lamar and found 96 dogs, five cats and two guinea pigs living in squalid conditions.

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

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

About 40 people from the Humane Society, United Animal Nation, Emergency Animal Rescue Service and Pet Smart Charities as well as area veterinarians and volunteers cared for and treated the animals after they were taken from the sisters’ property. The sisters relinquished ownership of the animals to the Humane Society.

Yarrington and Burkett were arrested again in April when one of the women was seen carrying a puppy in the Johnson County courthouse. A condition of their bond when they were released after their initial arrest was that they have no animals in their possession.

They had remained in jail after that arrest until their plea on Wednesday, Wilson said.

After getting preliminary care in Arkansas, the animals were sent to a shelter in the Washington D.C. area for additional treatment and socialization.