By John Burton
FREEHOLD – A former volunteer for the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was sentenced to five years probation today after authorities found more than 300 animal carcasses in her former Little Silver home earlier this year.
Gretchen Rell, 56, now of Unami Avenue in the Wanamassa section of Ocean Township, will have to meet all of the requirements of her probation, as outlined by Superior Court Judge John R. Tassini, according to Charles Webster, a spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Rell will have to comply with the recommendations of a psychiatric evaluation and she must make available her medical, psychiatric and psychological records to authorities. In addition, Rell will have to complete 30 days of community service and is prohibited from owning, residing with or taking into her care or custody any animals for the five-year probationary period, while also being barred from any contact with the county SPCA.
Failure to meet the any of these requirements could result in Rell being sent to state prison for up to five years, Webster said.
Little Silver police and investigators for the Monmouth County SPCA discovered more than 300 dead animals on March 9 at a Mitchell Place residence, the home of Rell’s mother. Investigators found the remains of various types of birds, turtles, rabbits, mice and opossums and other mammals too decomposed to identify, Webster said.
A joint SPCA-Little Silver police investigation charged that Rell, between January 2013-March 2014 took in the animals for temporary rehabilitation and care. The animals left in her care, however, died of dehydration and starvation. Many of the animals were found in their sealed crates or boxes, Webster said.
