Creepy: Woman who had 140 Snakes in her house and a dead Cat in a freezer Arrested

 A woman crammed her house with 140 snakes including pythons and boas and kept them squashed in old sweet tubs and plastic bins, a court has heard.

Pauline Wallace, 64, had the vast number of reptiles housed in an upstairs bedroom, living

room and garage.

RSPCA inspectors found 20 lying dead in a fridge freezer next to a dead cat because she couldn’t bear to bury them.

It is not believed all were part of the criminal case against her.

The rest of her collection was kept in old sweet tubs, plastic bins and vivariums that were stacked from floor to ceiling.

Wallace had denied a raft of animal cruelty charges but today changed her plea before she was due to stand trial.

She admitted seven charges of neglecting the reptiles by failing to ensure their welfare and two charges of animal cruelty in relation to a border collie called Alf.

The court had previously heard that Wallace lived in the semi-detached home in York with her snakes and her elderly mother.

RSPCA inspectors had discovered the vast array of snakes after a tip-off in July last year.

Wallace told them she didn’t know exactly how many she had but guessed at around 140.

As her trial was due to begin at York Magistrates Court, Phil Brown, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, told JPs that Wallace was prepared to plead guilty to a number of the charges put to her.

Wallace, dressed in a long beige cardigan with black trousers and her long grey hair hanging down her back, answered ‘guilty’ to seven charges of failing to ensure the needs of her pets were met between August and September last year.

Some of the charges relate to a Blood Python, a Salmon Hypo Boa and a Cinder Boa.

She admitted that she didn’t provide the right environment for the snakes included in the charges, didn’t provide what they needed to exhibit their normal behaviour, and didn’t protect them from pain, injury, suffering or disease.

Wallace had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal – admitting that she failed to provide veterinary care to the border collie, who was suffering from ecto-parasitism.

Mr Brown told magistrates that the prosecution accepted her guilty pleas and would be offering no other evidence to ten other animal cruelty charges she faced.

David Ward, for Wallace, told the magistrates she was on an 18-month waiting list to see a medical specialist for her health problems.

She also had “some issues within the family” and he asked for time to prepare a medical report on her.

Sentencing was adjourned until January 16 and Wallace, who arrived at court carrying a Pets At Home shopping bag, was released on bail.

Chairman of the bench Malcolm Smith told her: “You have pleaded guilty on the first day of your trial. Some credit will be due in terms of any sentence although clearly not full credit''.

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