Faith Ross and Francesca Maselli

More details have emerged about the horrifying scene found in Long Island on Friday, when animal control officers rescued more than a dozen dehydrated, emaciated and abused dogs and cats in a squalid Rockville Centre home. Officials found the dogs with their mouths muzzled and wrapped in so much tape they couldn't breathe, bark or eat, and their fur was matted with filth; they also found 26 carcasses of other animals including dogs, cats, ferrets and birds among huge piles of trash which hid the floor.

The home is owned by mother and daughter pair Faith Ross, 54, a secretary, and Francesca Maselli, 24, a nursing-home aide, who both pleaded not guilty on three felony animal-cruelty counts. The family has a sad history according to Ross' ex-husband, Louis Maselli; he told the Post that he has had no contact with daughter Francesca for more than a decade because Ross cut her off from him and his family after the courts refused to require visitation. "My daughter was taken away from me when she was 11 and taught to hate me and my family. I gave up, finally, after 10 years of phone calls and letters." The two women shouldn't expect much sympathy from the Judge: Judge Anna Anzalone teared up as prosecutors showed pictures of a dog skull with tape still visible on it.