South Buffalo couple charged with animal cruelty after officers recover 64 dogs, cats and rabbits

Two people in South Buffalo each face more than 200 counts of animal cruelty and neglect after humane officers rescued 64 animals from a farm.

Officials said some were wounded, including one missing a leg and another that couldn’t use its back legs. Many were living in inches of feces.

Jennie Armstrong, 44, and Ricky Baker, 41, are charged with felony aggravated cruelty to animals, misdemeanor animal cruelty and neglect, as well as summary animal neglect, court records show.

Armstrong is free on $5,000 bail, and Baker was not held on bond. The couple have preliminary hearings scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 27. No attorney was listed for Baker or Armstrong in online court documents.

Before the Dec. 14 rescue, the animals were living in sub-freezing temperatures with inadequate shelter, water and food, according to a criminal complaint.

As the search unfolded at the Srader Grove Road property, humane officers observed a three-legged sheep running away and a kitten that could not use its back legs because of injury.

Armstrong claimed some of the animals had received veterinary care but could not produce documentation, according to a complaint.

Chris O’Donnell, an Orphans of the Storm humane officer, was assisted by several other humane officers, the South Buffalo Police Department, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh and Frankie’s Friends Cat Rescue.

Thirty dogs were taken in by the Humane Animal Rescue and two went to Orphans of the Storm. All but two have since found adoptive or foster homes. Frankie’s Friends has placed all of the 27 rabbits and five cats it accepted.

Armstrong is known within animal welfare circles as a puppy mill operator. The Humane Society named her to its “Horrible Hundred” report in 2020, an annual list of 100 problem puppy breeders and dealers in the United States.

In separate cases, Armstrong and Baker face charges of operating an unlicensed kennel.

Armstrong also is involved in an animal cruelty and neglect case at a property on Hard Tack Road, Kittanning Township.

There, she kept 62 horses, dogs and other animals in similarly squalid conditions, according to court documents. Court records show Armstrong did not cooperate and instead moved the animals to an unknown location, which police later identified as the South Buffalo farm.

Sixty-five animals that did not appear to be at risk were allowed to remain at the South Buffalo site, according to a complaint.