BARTON — Charges have been filed on an individual for allegedly abandoning more than two dozen cats and rabbits about five years ago.

In mid-November, a cleaning crew reportedly stumbled on the remains in a deserted house on Main Street, Barton. The animals apparently had died of dehydration.

There were 15 dead rabbits in cages and seven in bags, five dead kittens and three dead adult cats.

Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan said the suspect’s name was not being released Tuesday.

“Charges were filed today, but we can’t release the name of any individual until that person is served with the complaint,” he said. “Our office has approved criminal charges, and we plan to go forward with a prosecution in this matter. … Our office aggressively pursues these types of cases. There is no reason for what occurred in this particular case, and we will continue not only our prosecution but further investigation to hold an individual or individuals accountable.”

Julie Larish, humane agent with the Belmont County Hoof & Paw Humane Society, met with the prosecutor’s office Tuesday and helped determine that three charges of animal abuse and three charges of cruelty to animals would be pressed.

Flanagan confirmed these are all second-degree misdemeanors. If convicted, the suspect could face 90 days in jail for each count.

“We have filed the highest possible charge that we could in this case,” Flanagan said, but he did not elaborate on the criteria that would have been necessary to file a more serious charge. “We filed a charge based on the merits of the case, and in this particular case the highest possible charges we could file were the neglect and animal cruelty. … At this time, the evidence that we have in our possession yields the charges we have filed.”

Larish said she has spoken with another attorney about the case.

As a result, she believes the length of time before the animals’ bodies were discovered degraded the physical evidence and limited the potential for charges.

Larish said she learned in her humane agent training that charges depend on whether a definitive cause of death can be determined.

“Starvation is the one that creates the felony,” she said.

Larish said if the animals were neglected and no veterinary care was sought, then the case would be a misdemeanor.

“But if it’s abuse or they died of starvation, that’s a higher level and they take it up to a felony,” Larish said.

“It’s a rarity to have deaths of an animal that are over five years old, and there are some state statutes that limit the ability to prosecute because we have no muscle and no tissue to actually do a necropsy on the animals to declare that they were tortured. Therefore, since we cannot declare they were tortured, we have to declare that they were neglected. Therefore they get a misdemeanor two. … You can’t rule out that there might have been a disease go through them.

“If we can narrow it down and say, ‘There was no disease, there was no parasites in their system, there was no other reason for them to die other than starvation, then you can get a felony. But because we don’t have tissues and muscles or stomach contents to tell us there was no other cause of death, then we have to lower it to a misdemeanor.”

Larish knew little about the possible circumstances surrounding the alleged abandonment.

“We have no known reasons for this to happen, but we often see this when there has been some experience in their life where they just close down one chapter of their life and start anew, only (the suspect) forgot to take (the) live animals,” she said.

The case will appear on the Belmont County Northern Division Court docket once charges are entered into the Belmont County Clerk of Courts system. A court date will be set.

Larish said she expects forthcoming charges on other abandoned animal cases.

“We have located several other owners of abandoned dogs, and we will be seeking charges, because it is illegal to abandon animals,” Larish said.