Ripon Woman Was Living In A Van With Dogs And Cat

Ripon Police arrested a 70-year-old Ripon woman Saturday morning who was living in her vehicle with 11 dogs and a cat. It started out as a check welfare call and the mini-van was pulled over for a defective brake lamp as it left the parking lot of an apartment complex. The officer handling the stop noticed an “overpowering odor” of animal feces and urine coming from the van. Four of the dogs were puppies 8 to 10 days old. Ripon Police Captain Bill Wallner says a relative of the woman lives in the apartment complex, but the woman chose to live in the van with the animals because she couldn’t take them inside. The dogs and cat were turned over to the Green Lake Area Animal Shelter. Wallner says those animals were happy to get out of the van. As they were removed from the van the animals were jumping around and seemed to be happy to get out of those conditions. The woman was arrested and taken to the Fond du Lac County Jail. Wallner says the woman has some history with this type of incident and had animals taken away from her before.