Hattiesburg officials tried to work with woman with menagerie in mansion
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A look into Mary Ellen Senne’s past shows that she has been in trouble before for having hoards of dogs and cats in her care 28 years ago.
She was in violation of city code in Hattiesburg when she had “56 unadoptable and disabled dogs and cats” in her three-story, 10,000-square-foot Country Club Lake Estates home that was once owned by sports agent Bus Cook.
Hattiesburg officials were made aware of the menagerie in her mansion by a 1990 Hattiesburg American article that appeared under the headline: “Mary Ellen Senne: Pine Belt’s patron saint of hard-luck cases.” A photo with the story shows a smiling Senne with three strays packed into her 1965 Rolls Royce. Allison Doughty snapped the picture, and more than a quarter-century later, she still has vivid memories of her visit with Col. David and Mary Ellen Senne.
“She was a saint, in my opinion, for domestic animals,” said Allison Doughty Jehlicka, now a photographer in North Carolina. “Many of her animals then had missing limbs or other problems and she spent fortunes on caring for them and giving them a good quality of life when they would have been killed.
“Several cats and at least one dog had scooters that she attached to allow them to be mobile again.”
The Sennes were arrested Monday and charged with aggravated animal cruelty after the Jones County Sheriff’s Department, Southern Cross Animal Rescue, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and the Humane Society of the United States found 106 animals — 17 of them dead in a freezer — on their 161-acre property on Lyon Ranch Road in the Johnson Community, just outside of Ellisville.
More than 50 officials and volunteers from across the country went to their property on the morning of July 11 and seized 89 live animals — 55 dogs and 34 cats — that were being housed in what Sheriff Alex Hodge and others called “deplorable conditions.” Many of the animals were suffering from neglect, he and rescue officials said. The animals were housed in six separate structures on her property, which was known as “Wonderland.” It’s been referred to as an animal sanctuary inside a theme park because there’s a carousel, a ferris wheel, a pirate ship, a steamboat, a caboose and numerous unusual statues throughout the property.
Officials describe a scene that sounds like anything but a sanctuary for animals.
Hodge said the most gruesome thing he saw was a small dog “with its back end basically eaten out by maggots.” No images of that were released, though, because “no one wants to see that,” Hodge said. Members of the local media were not allowed on the property and they were only able to get glimpses of a few of the dogs that were being examined under tents, surrounded by caregivers.
“Today is their last day living a hell,” Stacy Thrash of SCAR said in a live interview during the seizure.
Jehlicka said the animals had a heavenly existence in their home in Hattiesburg.
“Her house was immaculate and very clean despite all the animals,” she said.
She recalled that there was a downstairs room just for cats — “again, very clean,” she said.
“Another thing that impressed me was that she had adopted a needy family — a single mom with kids — and bought her groceries regularly.”
Several days after the first story about Senne was published in the Hattiesburg American, an article with the headline “Soft spot for animals puts activist in hot spot” appeared. Hattiesburg code administrator Jerry Creel sent two animal control officers to her home to warn her that she had to remove 50 animals from her residence. That’s because city code only allowed residential homes to have six animals.
Neighbors and city officials were not aware of all the animals the Sennes had until they saw the newspaper article about her. Officials tried to work with her to resolve the problem.
“I’m not asking for any special consideration,” Senne said at the time. “That’s not me. I fight for people who don’t get special consideration, but if anything can be done to legally resolve this, that would be good.”
City officials considered rezoning the property so she could continue to house the animals on her property.
“It is out of compassion that she took these animals in … we don’t provide the type of facility that could handle them,” then-City Councilwoman Betsy Rowell said, noting that no neighbors had complained about the situation. “These are animals that would be euthanized. It’s sad, but nobody wants these animals. That’s the reason that she has them.”
Then-Mayor Ed Morgan also weighed in, saying, “I think there is a way we ought to be able to work with someone like Mrs. Senne who is doing something special and different.”
The article also reported that Senne had been involved in numerous local causes. Not long before her story was published, she had worked to help 53 evicted families move after they had been evicted from a trailer park that was slated for demolition.
A followup article said that Senne was granted more time to come up with a solution, including rezoning or applying for a kennel license.
“We are certainly sympathetic to Mrs. Senne’s egalitarian disposition and therefore are searching for ways to work with her,” said Franklyn Tate, city director for Urban Development, said at the time.
The followup story described most of the animals in her care as “hard-luck pets,” many of which were “one-eyed, blind or three-legged and have special needs.”
In a press conference this week, Heather Williams of SCAR said that Senne took in many animals that were “hard to adopt or had special needs” or they “were not thriving in a shelter situation.” But when she saw the conditions they were being kept in, Williams was “blown away,” she said, adding that many animals were in “hidden buildings” that they weren’t aware of.
Peg Glaser of Soso, who has been involved with animal rescues and has known Senne for years, said, “She’s a unique person. I think she maybe got in deeper than she meant to. She was overrun, killing herself taking care of them. It’s a sad situation.”
Col. Senne was a Purple Heart recipient and retired from the military. He has served as a professor at the University of Southern Mississippi and executive director of the Laurel-Hattiesburg Regional Airport. He also had a failed run for mayor of Hattiesburg. He suffers from dementia now and was under the care of his wife, in addition to the dogs and cats. Mary Ellen Senne told Judge Billie Graham that she and her husband own rental property in Jones, Forrest and Lamar counties.
Receipts show that she spent almost $3,500 on dog and cat food over the last four months.
Hodge said that the raid was the result of a three-month investigation into possible animal cruelty and neglect. Senne told reporters that she spent “$6,000 to $10,000 a month” on veterinarian bills. Dr. Kimberly Marnin disputed that figure, saying it was “about $700” a month. Senne also said that the 17 animals that were in the freezer were being prepared for burial at a church on her property that’s by the rainbow bridge, an afterlife for pets that was popularized by a poem.
The Sennes have hired Hattiesburg attorney Scott Schwartz to represent them in their court case.
“Mary Ellen was a force of goodness back then,” Jehlicka said. “I can’t imagine she’s any different now.”
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Clarification
Buddy’s Place is an animal memorial that was established by Mary Ellen Senne at the “gateway” to the Longleaf Trace, not to the University of Southern Mississippi.