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Police remove dozens of dogs from East Northport home

BY CARL MACGOWAN | carl.macgowan@newsday.com

9:37 PM EDT, May 6, 2008

Dozens of dogs were removed from a suspected East Northport puppy mill Tuesday by police and firefighters wearing face masks and air tanks.

The dogs, most in small cages, were filthy, scared and living in a house filled with foul air, said Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Many of the dogs were carried to a mobile animal hospital outside the house at 36 Wicks Road as police investigated.

Irene Monroig, 66, faces misdemeanor animal cruelty charges, Gross said. If convicted, Monroig faces a year in prison, a $1,000 fine or both, he said. She could face other charges pending further investigation, he said.

"I'm not saying it is a puppy mill," he said. "But we will investigate it to see if it is a puppy mill."

Fifty-six dogs, including seven puppies, were removed from the house after an anonymous complaint to the Town of Huntington, Gross said. The dogs were mostly small breeds like poodles and shih tzus. Two baby squirrels and a parrot also were taken.

Feces, urine and moldy food surrounded the animals, the SPCA said. Before the animals were removed, the Commack Fire Department aerated the house, which Gross said was "like a hellhole."

Gross said Monroig signed the animals over to the SPCA, which took them to the Huntington animal shelter.

Vanity plates on a Lexus SUV parked in the driveway read "PUPPY 4U." Records list the home's occupant as Irene Hohwiesner, 66.

A woman who left the house refused to speak as she ducked past journalists and went into a neighbor's house.

Neighbors said they noticed a foul odor coming from Monroig's house, and a complaint was filed with the town at least once when the dogs got loose in the neighborhood.

Noreen Driscoll, whose property abuts Monroig's, said dogs from Monroig's house sometimes got into her yard through a hole in the fence. The dogs also barked constantly when they were outside, she said.

Monroig was a nice woman, but "we thought she was odd," Driscoll said.

Another neighbor, Cindy Sorgenfrei, of South Haven Drive, defended Monroig, calling the investigation a "witch hunt."

Monroig is a veterinarian who grooms dogs at the house, said Sorgenfrei, who said they have been neighbors for 40 years.

"It's never bothered me," she said of the dogs.

New York State records do not list Monroig as a licensed veterinarian.

Gross said the dogs will be examined by veterinarians and spayed and neutered before being made available for adoption. Adoption applications are at suffolkspca.org.

He said the dogs appear to be purebreds. "We're already getting tons of phone calls," Gross said. "I feel that all these animals will make good pets."