Ayer woman pleads not guilty to charges of animal cruelty
162 animals seized in Feb.
An Ayer woman was charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty Monday after 162 animals were seized from her home in February, officials said.
Ruth Maxant-Schulz was arraigned in Ayer District Court and pleaded not guilty to 30 counts of animal cruelty, according to a statement from the Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office.
Maxant-Schulz, 77, was released on personal recognizance on the conditions of having “no possession of animals, no working with animals, no living with animals, no unsupervised contact with animals,” the statement said. She also surrendered all rights to the animals that were seized, according to the statement.
Maxant-Schulz will appear in Ayer District Court on June 20 for a pretrial hearing, according to the statement.
The 162 animals seized from Maxant-Schulz’s residence on Taft Street in Ayer included 49 goats, 91 chickens, 11 ducks, eight geese, two ponies, and one dog, according to the statement.
A number of the animals were injured with some animals found emaciated and some goats with “severe abscesses and mastitis,” according to the statement, along with several fowl treated for lice. The animals are now at the MSPCA-Angell at Nevins Farm, according to Rob Halpin, a spokesperson for MSPCA-Angell.
The MSPCA-Angell referred all questions to the district attorney’s office. More information will be released about the animals, but an update on their conditions was not available, according to Halpin.
On Feb. 20, Ayer police responded to Maxant-Schulz’s home on Taft Street for a “well-being check“according to the statement. The property had “animals roaming” outside, including the two ponies, several goats, and ducks.
“Officers discovered several deceased animals both outside and inside the home,” the statement said. “Officers saw two dead goats at the front door of the house and could see through a window several goats inside a room that was covered in trash, animal feces, and debris.”
When officers went inside the home, they found “three dead baby goats lying next to each other,” the statement said, another dead baby goat, and one baby goat that “appeared to be alive but unwell.”
An Ayer animal control officer arrived at the home, and “she heard baby goats making crying sounds and did not see any food or water set out for them,” the statement said.
On Feb. 23, officers returned to the home with a search warrant and found similar conditions along with “a dog crate containing various fowl with no access to food or water,” according to the statement.
Veterinarians from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton were on the scene and said “there was a likely risk to the animals’ health due to the nature of the property and the animals’ inability to access nutritious food and water,” the statement said.
“The veterinarians believed the animals were likely in a state of neglect and therefore believed it was necessary to remove the animals from the property,” the statement said. “An injured adult goat was observed limping around the property with a broken leg. He was treated immediately by Tufts veterinarians and removed from the property.”
The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine was not immediately available for comment on the incident.
Ayer’s health agent was given an administrative search warrant and the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health Agent, along with the Ayer Building Department, observed a dead goat inside a barn on Maxant-Schulz’s property, according to the statement.
A second search warrant was given to police to search the barn and the remainder of the property where additional dead animals were seen, the statement said.
An investigation is ongoing and being conducted by the Middlesex district attorney’s office, the Ayer Police Department, and the MSPCA, according to the statement.