A Canton woman who left seven puppies to die on the side of the road in the summer heat will now serve time in prison, officials said.
Amber Kay Higdon, 31, pleaded guilty to seven counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit District Attorney Susan K. Treadaway announced Thursday.
Higdon left the puppies on the side of Pine Lane near Marietta Highway in Canton on July 27, a day when temperatures reached 95 degrees, according to prosecutors. The puppies were found in a pink plastic tote by a passerby around 8:30 p.m., roughly six hours after they had been abandoned.
Investigators determined that Higdon had taken the puppies, all roughly 3 weeks old, to the Cherokee County Animal Shelter, according to officials. When an employee asked Higdon for her driver’s license, she left to retrieve it and never returned.
Higdon then got into a vehicle, where she became annoyed with the sounds of the whimpering puppies and instructed the driver, a co-defendant in the case, to pull over less than a mile from the shelter. Higdon then left the dogs in direct sunlight with no food or water, prosecutors said. While the container did not have a lid, the puppies were too small to crawl out.
When she returned to the car, Higdon expressed relief at no longer hearing the whimpering anymore, according to the driver.
It was later determined that the puppies died from pulmonary edema, pulmonary hemorrhage and cardiac arrest, officials said. Higdon admitted to leaving them on the side of the road, but said she thought someone else would find them.
“The defendant committed a crime against one of the most vulnerable groups in our society,” Assistant District Attorney Rachel Murphy, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement. “Animals rely on us as humans for all their needs, and the defendant discarded these puppies on the side of the road as if they were trash.”
Superior Court Judge Shannon Wallace sentenced Higdon to 10 years, with the first two years to serve in prison and the remainder on probation. Higdon is forbidden from owning or having contact with animals during her probation and will be fined.
“Given the nature of these charges and the pain and suffering this defendant caused these puppies, prison time is justified and sends a clear message that Cherokee County does not tolerate crimes against animals,” Treadaway said in the statement.
The co-defendant also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation beginning immediately. Their identity was not shared.
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