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Children in DHR custody, foster parent accused of animal cruelty

Thursday, May 3, 2012

A dog breeder in Helena is accused of animal cruelty and has given up 13 of her 14 dogs. Her four foster children have also been placed in protective custody. "There would be no animal on this Earth that I would let stay in that house much less a person," said Sgt. Chris Rollan with the Helena Police Department. Rollan is talking about Bonnie Liberman's home on Oak View Lane. After several complaints from neighbors, police and DHR came knocking on her door. Rollan says Liberman cooperated and let them inside. What they found is hard to imagine. "There was feces about every square foot inside the residence including in the linen closets, where the children sleep, everywhere throughout the house," said Rollan. DHR determined those were not livable conditions for the children so they put the children in protective custody. Liberman also agreed to give up her 13 poodles. That's when Two by Two Rescue got a phone call. "Their hair was so matted to their bodies with feces that several of them we could not tell the gender of the animal because we could not tell what was feces, what was matted hair, and what was genitals," said Sonya Smith with Two by Two Rescue. Police can't release all of the pictures from inside Liberman's home due to the ongoing investigation, but Smith described what she saw. "There was feces on the walls. Someone had written with feces on the wall. The stench was so bad I had to go into adrenaline mode and just override what I was smelling so I wouldn't start gagging," said Smith. Two by Two Rescue took the dogs to the Hope Animal Clinic for treatment. While they're still in the process of evaluating the animals, Smith says it appears some are also malnourished. "The babies were trying and the mothers were trying but due to malnutrition they weren't producing any milk," said Smith. The four puppies, the youngest just a week old, are now getting proper nutrition. As for Bonnie Liberman, she will appear in court Monday where a judge will decide if the children can return to her home. "DHR had been in the house weekly and decided it was okay for them to live in those conditions," said Rollan, "Now keep in mind Miss Liberman would have known when DHR was coming on a regular basis so she would have cleaned up or isolated them to the living quarters of the children instead of showing them the rest of the house." Liberman also has a court day May 8th regarding her charges of animal cruelty, failure to dispose of an animal, and operating a business without a license. Because Liberman claimed to be an AKC registered breeder on her website, we contacted the Animal Kennel Club to see what they had to say about this case. They released this statement: "AKC has been made aware of this situation and has placed Bonnie Liberman on temporary referral until it is determined whether or not she has violated the AKC Judicial or Administrative Determination of Inappropriate Treatment policy."

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Keywords: Helena, dog breeder, children, DHR, police, animal cruelty,

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