Woman in Animal Case Surrenders to Face 77 Counts

An Eagle Rock woman wanted on charges of keeping her elderly mother and 72 dogs, cats and birds in squalid conditions at her home surrendered Thursday in Los Angeles Municipal Court and was released on $15,000 bail.

Rebecca Courlie, 41, is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 9 on 77 misdemeanor counts filed against her by the city attorney’s office. Courlie fled Aug. 10 when city animal control workers, responding to a complaint from neighbors, arrived at her home to inspect it. Inside, they found Courlie’s 78-year-old mother and the animals living in what was described as “filth 4 inches deep.”

The animals were impounded, but many were too ill to be treated and had to be destroyed by animal control workers.

Courlie’s attorney declined to say where the woman had been since she fled.

Chuck Ellis, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Public Works Street Maintenance Division, said a six-man crew began clean-up efforts at the house Thursday at the request of the county Department of Health Services.