9-6-13 judge orders puppies returned to woman charged with animal neglect

A Fond du Lac judge has ordered that several puppies removed from a  Fond du lac home earlier this summer be returned to the owner after a parvo virus quarantine is lifted at the Fond du Lac animal shelter.  Thirty two year old Stacy Checolinski faces ten counts each of neglecting to provide proper water to confined animals and failure to provide proper indoor animal shelter ventilation.  The puppies were found in a tarp covered crate in the backyard of an 8^th Street home in July.  At a motion hearing this week in Fond du lac County Circuit Court Checolinski’s attorney made a motion to toss out the charges arguing police did not obtain a proper warrant before entering the property.   Fond du Lac animal shelter manager Renee Webb says the puppies lives were in imminent danger when police were called.  "I think if someone called and reported that there was an infant sitting in a vehicle on an 86 degree day I don't think a search warrant would be necessary at that point,"  Webb said.  "I know its difficult for some people to compare the importance of a human or child's life as opposed to a litter of puppies but quite honestly we were talking about a dire situation."  Judge Gary Sharpe did not immediately rule on the motion.  A plea and sentencing

hearing is scheduled for September 9^th.    Three of the puppies died when a parvo virus swept through the shelter last month…and the surviving puppies are still at the shelter under quarantine.  But Webb says the judge ordered those puppies be returned to Checolinski when the quarantine is lifted.   Webb says that makes her feel frustrated.  " We will continue on the civil side to try to get placement for these puppies and not back into the bad situation that they were previously in,"  Webb told AM 1170 WFDL's Between the Lines program.  The shelter was closed for two weeks when the parvo virus was first discovered last month.