Sandra Glidewell, 48, a part-time employee at the You’ve Got A Friend Veterinary Clinic in Mascotte, Florida was arrested on Tuesday, December 23 on charges of aggravated cruelty to animals after she allegedly bashed two cats with a hammer and then drowning them in her swimming pool at her home in Groveland. Following her arrest, Glidewell was booked into the Lake County jail under a $6,000 bond.
According to The Daily Commercial, Glidewell had been working at the clinic for close to two years, as well as fostering several animals. Glideman’s position was immediately terminated when Joyce Alderman, the clinic’s owner learned about these allegations. Alderman said,
“”She never demonstrated any abuse towards any animal at this clinic. She did not have that record or reputation when she was hired.”
Deputies responded to calls they received early Tuesday morning, alleging that Glideman was beating the animals with a hammer. Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Jim Vachon said that upon their arrival two cats who “appeared to have been bludgeoned and then drowned” were found at the bottom of the pool. Also found at the scene was a dead Chihuahua on a chair wrapped up in a blanket.
According to an arrest affidavit, Glideman’s young daughter informed deputies that on Monday night her mother became “extremely upset” and started yelling, when she told her that one of their Chihuahuas had escaped from an outside fence and had drowned in the swimming pool. Glidewell attempted to revive the dog with CPR, but to no avail. The daughter also told them that an hour later that she observed her mother tossing a cat onto the ground and then, using a hammer tried to hit another cat in the head. When the deputies asked Glidewell about the incident, she told them that she was upset with her daughter and blamed her for letting the dog to drown.
Further information included in the affidavit is even more distressing. Apparently the daughter grabbed her mother’s hand in an attempt stop her brutal tirade. However, her mother yelled back at her to “let go or there will be more.” The daughter said that later on she found the two cats “still alive but barely breathing.” She told the deputies that her mother then “took the cats one by one to the pool and drowned them.”
The daughter went on to say that she heard the garage door open and observed her mother holding a cat with a serious head injury. What makes these events of animal abuse even more disturbing is that Glidewell tossed her the cat saying, “There, you can say bye to him.”
Seized from the residence were several animals including an African Grey parrot, macaws, a cockatoo, a Siamese mix, other cats and a Pit-Bull mix. According to a press release, the animals were taken to Lake County Animal Services where they will be checked out by a veterinarian and remain there until a court hearing. The clinic picked up the animals that Glidewell was fostering.
No doubt we will never know the exact reason that prompted this trusted clinic employee to go completely berserk with such heinous behavior; perhaps in reaction to her dog’s accidental death. Could her sick and depraved response have been triggered as an attempt to punish her daughter?
As far as this writer is concerned, any act of animal cruelty is heart-breaking and highly disturbing. But it is even more horrendous and highly alarming when these despicable acts are performed at the hands of a “trusted” staff member working at a veterinary animal clinic.
According to Small Animal Talk, burnout and depression rank high in the veterinary profession. Although burnout and deep despair may have been at the root of Glidewell’s deplorable, savage behavior, does it make her shocking behavior any more excusable?
What is your opinion? Share your thoughts in a comment.
Please search using the search box at the top of the site. You are bound to find what you are looking for.
While I can understand being stressed out and upset about the death of her dog, any sympathy I have for that woman evaporates when I read how she targeted her daughter’s cats.
The anger I feel right now can not be measured or put into words that are allowed here. There is NO excuse what so ever to do this to any animal. In my humble opinion she should be charged to the fullest extent of the law. Then sentenced to jail, where she should be put into a cell full of animal lovers. When the lights go off at night the guards will suddenly go deaf for the night. But we know this won’t happen because she is protected by the law. She will get a slap on the wrist and allowed back out to do it again the next time she gets “upset” when something doesn’t go right in her eyes.
Agreed, provided she is deemed fit mentally.
I can hardly think of an appropriate thing to say about this woman. She should count her blessings that I am not the one that decides her fate. The thought is not pretty.
Just so you know who she is! Hopefully she will get jail time the poor child will get some help!
Thanks Jan. I was looking for a photo. I find it very hard to believe anyone can do what she did.
This is so sick Michael she needs to go away where she cannot hurt anyone! I hope the DSS will be investigating her and taking the child for child abuse! That poor kid will never be the same!
It sounds like the very same reason that perfectly well-adjusted women snap and inexplicably run out into heavy traffic to end their lives or leap to their deaths. They suffer from no previous mental or emotional problems in their lives, then one day they just snap-decision end it all. According to those studies and reports, for some unexplained reason, they also only choose the most painful and grisly forms of death.
Well Gary I have no idea what you are saying. Sorry. Women are no more prone to suicide than men or if they are the difference is slight.
Why did you edit my comment that provides the reason that they do it? Anyone can do a web-search on toxoplasmosis to find those studies that prove it.
I don’t allow people to change my words for me. If that’s how you run this site, no wonder people don’t come back.
Gary, I edited your comment because this website gets trolled by a person called Woodsman001. He hates cat lovers and insults them. Your comment appeared to be from him as he uses many aliases. That is one reason why I edited it. The other reason is that the statement is incorrect and misleading. Toxoplasmosis has been totally misrepresented on the internet by cat hating people.
So let me get this correct. You believe that all the numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies about cats’ toxoplasmosis parasites from every country around the globe, from some of the most well-respected and trusted research centers, are all just a cat-haters’ conspiracy against what you want to believe with no actual proof of anything of your own. And that this even gives you the right to censor others who might try to educate people in order to stop them from committing suicide or other violent acts.
Does that sum it up?
What color is your sky? If you answer blue (or gray when overcast, or black at night) I’ll be very surprised. Or should I better ask, what color of sky are the toxoplasmosis parasites in your brain making you see?
I’ll let you insult me but don’t insult anyone else. I have published your comment to avoid being branded a censor. There is no research paper by a respected scientists that says toxoplasmosis affects our brains negatively. You are one of those aggressive, blind, biased types who I personally detest. You are probably Woody.
Click on the link below:
https://pictures-of-cats.org/truth-about-toxoplasmosis-and-cats.html
If there is even a hint of an insult in future comments I’ll ban you.
Thanks, Michael.
Ooops, Woody’s cloak of invisibility has slipped.
And he’s STILL boring.
Keep in mind that this is Lake County, Florida. The hellhole of the state.
Not really so surprising. I lived there (Mount Dora) for about 10 years, and groped my way out. No sane person would, voluntarily, live in Lake County.
They, especially, pride themselves in the 4H groups who raise sheep, lambs, etc. only to be slaughtered for display at supermarkets. I’m not sure that these children who love and care for these animals really know what their outcome will be.
There is a complete disregard for any animal there. They are “things” that humans have sole power over.
I’m stunned to hear a story like this. Up until she *snapped,* Ms. Glideman seemed she could have been like one of us, an obvious animal lover, caretaker, nurturer. It just doesn’t make sense. My heart goes out to those poor animals and to her daughter. I hope a therapist talks with the daughter. People who abuse animals often hurt people. As an animal-lover and cat-guardian and a mother, the whole thing is horrifying.
I advocate for capital punishment (the death penalty) for anyone who wilfully harms any cat. This story is absolutely sickening. This woman should never see the light of day again.
I work at a Veterinary Hospital and there are times we get overwhelmed and stressed. I could tell you a number of stories about animals brought in with tragic situations but we try to save all the ones we can. But the largest part of the stress for me is when I see owners who don’t properly care for their animal companions and either wait until they’re almost dead to bring them in or flat out don’t care about them. Too often people bring in pets they’ve had for years to “get rid” of them with any lame excuse for surrendering them. Granted there are valid reasons people must surrender but we have become too much of a disposable society and when our life style no longer allows “excess baggage”, we’re ready to dump it. You could really get me on a soap box about this subject but my heart breaks for these poor pets (especially the senior ones) that are cast off into an unknown world with an unknown future. One can only cringe at the sad and confused feelings they must experience.
I so feel for you, Linda.
I could never do what you do.
Any time I hear these stories it breaks my heart. This one sounds like revenge to get even with the daughter, but who knows what kind of dynamics were going on with this person. I look into the eyes of our cats and sheep and see only love. I cannot fathom the terror and pain these animals had to go through at the hands of someone they gave all their trust to. I feel sorry for the daughter too. All of her animals have been taken from her. That leaves a big void in her heart. I understand why they were taken but it has to be hard to deal with for this kid. I hope that she can have her animals back but not if the mother is involved in any way.
This is a sickening story and a very surprising one. It is almost as if something cracked for this women. It is as if she had a nervous breakdown. The judge may have a medical report prepared.
If she is psychologically well and fit then she is a fake and a monster (working as she is at a vets) who should receive the maximum punishment allowed.