Animal Hoarding
Trey Meynig
tmeynig@newscenter25.com
Updated: 2/21 9:54 pm
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Animal Hoarding
Thursday night, authorities in Wharton County have cut the cord on a con involving the buying and selling of animals. It's a scam of another breed: a woman from Wharton, was pretending to raise pedigree dogs, and was trying to pull a fast one on animal lovers around the country. A total of 34 dogs have been seized from a Wharton County residence, putting an illegal animal buying and selling operation out of business. Jennifer Hurbers sold expensive animals at substantially reduced prices, which attracted many buyers, but it was her sales approach that raised suspicion, and caused these same buyers to tip off police. Detective Grandy Smith stated that Hurbers would obtain the animals from shelters or buy them from individuals, then attached falsified American Kennel Club papers to them, and then sell the animals through several web sites, scamming victims not only locally, but nationwide. Detective Smith said Hurbers sold animals worth several thousand dollars for as little as five hundred or one thousand dollars, just to get that quick sale. Hurbers pled guilty to several charges of illegal buying and selling of animals, and is now out on probation. Many of the seized dogs are ready to be adopted and police said none of the seized animals appeared to be abused or hurt in any way. If you are interested, contact Wharton County SPOT, which stands for stray pet outreach team. Visit their website here www.wcspot.org
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