Woman In Animal Case Freed

ASTORIA, Ore. - A former Florida woman released from jail last week after tying up more than a dozen Oregon judges and lawyers in an animal abuse case is expected to begin collecting more animals.

Vikki Kittles was convicted of 42 counts of animal neglect for treating a busload of 115 malnourished dogs so poorly that many suffered severe health problems. She served 15 months in the Clatsop County Jail.

She apparently collected the dogs from animal shelters on a cross-country trip from Florida to Oregon, where she was living aboard the bus until Astoria-area residents complained to authorities in 1993.

Detective Ned Foy of the Manatee County, Fla., sheriff's department found her house filled with animals waste, empty dog food sacks and dead dogs. He found two horses in a back bedroom.