2 People Arrested For Abandoning Several Cats In Berkshire County

You will likely recall the story that we reported on in late January about around 16 cats that were left out in the cold near Richmond Pond in Richmond and on Hunter Mountain Road in Lanesborough. A local man came across multiple cats in the road while driving near Richmond Pond in Richmond on the evening of January 28th. It turned out to be several cats that were just left out in the cold in the midst of the winter storm. More were later located in Lanesborough.

You can read the original article written back in late January, HERE.

(Above - Good samaritan, Joshua Christman, was the man who fortunately came upon the kitties, that looked to be frightened and freezing.)

Several of the cats were brought to the Berkshire Humane Society...

11 of the cats were sheltered at the Berkshire Humane Society. Well, this morning (Wednesday), Berkshire Humane Society executive director, John Perreault hosted a big announcement from the facility on Barker Road in regards to the case.

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An arrest has been made...

Deputy Chief of the MSPCA's Law Enforcement Department, Officer Richard LeBlond announced that authorities had enough probable cause to arrest two individuals in the case. The suspects, Arthur Raney and Kelly Hathaway, both of Pittsfield, will be arraigned on March 18th on 15 counts of Felony Cruelty, which can be penalized with up to 7 years in prison and a fine of $5,000.

See the video of the announcement below:

Berkshire Humane Society executive director John Perreault stressed that this situation could have been avoided, as there are agencies all around the Berkshires that can lend a hand in these cases. He says that the shelter can be called anytime.

(We will update this story when more information becomes available.)