Saying the 266 dogs, rabbits, pigs, goats and other animals seized Monday from an Orange Park home were "neglected and cruelly treated," Clay County filed a civil petition to take possession of them and make sure the owner cannot get them back.
The six-page petition, filed Wednesday by Clay County attorney Courtney Grimm, also says 51-year-old Jennifer Michelle Wilkie is "unable or unfit to adequately provide for the animals" now being cared for at a temporary facility at the Clay County Fairgrounds.
A multiagency raid rescued the animals early Monday from what Sheriff Michelle Cook called "deplorable conditions" after a search warrant was served at the home in the 200 block of Old Jennings Road. The investigation began weeks earlier when Clay County paramedics and deputies responding to a medical emergency involving one of two adults there saw animals in bad shape, Cook said.
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