Deputies: Animal refuge was death camp

RAMAH, N.M. (KRQE) - Investigators say a 73 year old woman who was running what was supposed to be an animal refuge was actually running a death camp.

In the small community of Ramah, 40 miles west of Grants, Cibola County sheriff's deputies found starving dogs, a field of animal carcasses and a makeshift crematorium at a place the owner called the St. Francis Animal Refuge.

"When we got there we found that instead of refuge or any kind of a sanctuary for these animals we found ... a death sentence," said Heather Ferguson of the New Mexico Attorney General's Animal Cruelty Task Force and Animal Protection New Mexico

Ferguson documented the suffering on video.

"We found animals that had been seemingly possibly intentionally starved to death," she said. "There was food available so you had bins of dog food on the property, yet you had dogs dying of starvation. A couple died while we were there."

Prosecutors charged 73 year old Arlene Krippene with 15 counts of extreme animal cruelty. Animal workers say they had to put down 70 of her dogs because they were too sick to recover.

"A lot of the dogs are extremely thin (with) poor hair coats and bad teeth," said Dr. Mike Neal with Animal Humane New Mexico. "A couple of them have got heart murmurs."

Animal Humane New Mexico will adopt out some of the survivors. The rest will go to Torrance County.

This is not the first time Krippene has been in trouble. In 2000, deputies cited her for having too many dogs. They say this treatment obviously violated her plea deal.

It costs thousands of dollars for Animal Humane to rehab these dogs. Anybody who can help can contact Animal Humane through the organization's Web site.