Dog rescuer arrested on charges of cruelty

A so-called dog rescuer — from whom 100 dogs were rescued in the past month — has been charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty, as has a man who lived with her.

Eden residents Carol Merchant and Russell Goodell were arrested Monday night after Vermont State Police finished an investigation into their operation, at a home on Route 100 long known by locals as the Pink Palace.

As of press time, Lamoille County State’s Attorney Paul Finnerty had not yet read all the details of the investigation, but he said, “We do anticipate filing some charges.”

Merchant and Goodell could not be reached for comment; phone numbers for their address have been disconnected.

On Feb. 25, state police, armed with a search warrant for Merchant’s home, discovered about 100 dogs living in appalling conditions — locked in cages without access to food or clean water, lying in their own feces, many with festering wounds resembling bed sores.

Straightaway, the Humane Society of Chittenden County sprang into action, removing more than 60 dogs and a few cats from the Route 100 home.

Nancy Cathcart, president of the Chittenden County branch, said at the time, “I would say that there’s a lot more to the story.”

Indeed there is. In the weeks since then, all the remaining animals were removed from the home. The Eden animal control officer, Bert Manning, was removed from office during the town’s annual meeting. And then came the arrests Monday night.

Manning wasn’t just the town’s animal control officer, and its constable for more than a decade; he was also the vice president of Merchant’s rescue organization, which he called Bark Rescue.

In an interview March 2, the day before Town Meeting Day, Manning said he had licensed 21 dogs for Merchant a year ago. He said “maybe once or twice” he had received complaints about the house, but denied ever seeing the squalor that police and Humane Society workers saw.

“I’ve heard that, and it’s all untrue,” he said. “She had them all in kennels, cleaned them twice a day, walked them twice a day, sometimes three times a day.”