Harrison County woman arrested for animal abuse

A Saucier woman faces upwards of 30 misdemeanor charges after dead and neglected dogs were found on the property of her animal rescue.

Forty-seven-year-old Jessica Collins was arrested Wednesday on 32 animal cruelty charges.

Animal Advocate Connie Call alerted police to multiple dead animals, including puppies and a bird that were on the property.

There were apparently bags full of dead dogs, what appeared to be a burned dog carcass, and a single emaciated yellow lab trapped inside a portable building.

The lab, as well as other animals at Collins’ property in Pass Christian, are now at the South Mississippi Humane Society. Call said, “The reason this happens is because there’s pretty much no legislation or any kind of audit process for these rescues. There needs to be some kind of audit process besides the IRS. They need to have somebody that goes to these organizations that claim to be rescues, that claim to be nonprofits, and do a thorough audit of how these animals are being treated and how they’re being housed. There’s nothing like that here.”

Collins received a total bond of $32,000 and bonded out of jail the same day.