Mom Accused Of Drowning 4 Puppies In Toilet, Pleads Not Guilty To Animal Cruelty Charges

A Washington woman is charged with animal cruelty after allegedly drowning four puppies in her Lakewood apartment toilet. The woman, Ginger Hartson, was charged with four counts of animal cruelty on Tuesday but has pleaded not guilty.

According to KIRO 7, charges filed against Hartson state that the mother had two adult pit bulls which were not spay or neutered. The female dog became pregnant and had a litter of six puppies. When the landlord told Hartson she could not keep the pets in her small apartment, police said she managed to find homes for two of the pups, and when she couldn’t sell the remaining four, drowned them one by one in a toilet. Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist said the act was especially unique due to the fact it was a “deliberate” act.

“Most of our animal cruelty cases involve some level of negligence. This was deliberate and it was cruel. She knew exactly what she was doing.”

Q13 Fox reports that Hartson methodically drowned each puppy one at a time in the toilet. According to police, Hartson justified her actions by telling her young son afterward that if she didn’t kill the dogs, animal control would euthanize them anyway. Prosecutors said the woman wrote a statement, saying she did not kill the puppies for “glee or pleasure,” but instead because she thought she had no other choice, and assumed they would be killed at the shelter.

Jerry Lerhman, a former roommate of Hartson, said he was “shocked that had to happen in my house and my bathroom.” Lerhman said that if Hartson had told him her plans he would have taken responsibility of the puppies himself and found them new homes.

“All she had to do was tell me that was she was going to do and I’d have found an option. I’d have taken it upon myself to find a home for them.”

Lerhman also notes that the things said by Hartson to her young son could be damaging in the future.

“For a kid that age to listen to some of the things she was telling him, it has to be damaging.”

According to police records, this is not the first run in with the law that Hartson has had regarding animal cruelty. Prosecutors contend Hartson has a history of animal abuse, saying that she left dogs inside her car on two different occasions in 2001.

Hartson had her bail set at $20,000.

The Inquisitr also reported that an ex-MTV reality “star” has also been charged with animal cruelty charges after leaving her mastiff puppy in her home for three weeks without food or water.

What do you think of Hartson’s not guilty plea? Do you buy the mom’s excuse that she allegedly drowned the puppies in the toilet because they would “be euthanized anyway” or is it just an excuse to get out of jail time?

[Image Credit: KIRO]