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Article Archive > Trapped squirrel leads to charges against owner of pest control company Trapped squirrel leads to charges against owner of pest control company HAZLET - The owner of a West Long Branch pest control company has been charged with four counts of animal cruelty after a squirrel was found dead in a rooftop trap. Victor "Buddy" Amato, chief of the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, charged Kathleen Buck, owner of Critter Ridder, after receiving a complaint about the dead animal at a professional complex at 25 Village Court. According to Amato, the building's owners contracted with Critter Ridder to remove a squirrel from the area and a trap was set on the building's roof at about 1 p.m. Wednesday. No one returned to check the trap, he said, and a squirrel caught sometime that day "baked to death" by 5 p.m. Thursday. "It just cooked to death on the hot roof," he said. Buck will be forced to appear in court to answer the charges, which include citations for failing to provide adequate food, water and shelter for an animal. Amato said her fault lies in failing to comply with a state statute requiring traps to be checked every 24 hours. Buck said she has been in business for 30 years and was unaware she had done anything wrong. She said in the past customers have always called when an animal is caught. "It was a misunderstanding and now I'm paying the consequences," she said.
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