The Truth About Cats & Dogs

Not a single charge of child abuse has been filed against Lise LaBarre.

Listening to the boy as I sit in Lise LaBarre's kitchen, I have no doubt his "mom" is a very unusual lady. Not many physicians live in a cheap modular home surrounded by hundreds of rescued animals. Not many docs live in humble digs while their dogs reside in a $200,000 kennel facility that features (honestly) Greek and Roman statuary.

But I can tell you that the dogs were well-fed, watered and in clean kennels. They are not abused animals--just unwanted mutts.

If the Humane Society or Sheriff's Office had found otherwise, surely the dogs would have been confiscated.

There's nothing wrong with the dogs--not even Misty, the Republic's noseless dog. Misty's nose looks funny--she had mange--but a veterinarian's notes say the dog's nose is healthy but overlicked.

The Humane Society pressed the Sheriff's Office to cite LaBarre with 48 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty (the charges are pending in Justice Court). Forty-seven charges stemmed from the conditions of the cats. The 48th was for White Mama.

But LaBarre didn't make these animals sick. She was trying to make them better.

Is she really the cruel cat lady she was made out to be? Did she deserve to lose her livelihood and her child?

I don't think so.
It's the people who invaded her home and took away her son who should be charged with inhumane treatment--of humans.