Margaret Catlin, who was charged last year with eight counts of extreme cruelty to animals after she allegedly left several dogs and cats to perish inside a Tularosa well house, pleaded no contest to several misdemeanors on Monday, the Alamogordo Daily News reported.

Investigators questioned Catlin and her 25-year-old son, Seth, after finding three dead dogs and five dead cats inside the pump house in March 2007, and both were charged with eight counts each of extreme cruelty to animals, a fourth-degree felony punishable by 18 months in prison, the Daily News said.

"We would rather have seen her take a plea for felony counts, due to the gravity of the charges and by us having knowledge of the original crime scene," Otero County Sheriff John Blansett said. "We are not happy about seeing this end up a misdemeanor conviction at all."

Undersheriff Norbert Sanchez said neither he nor the sheriff had seen "this kind of cruelty to animals" in their years with the sheriff's department, the Daily News reported.

Catlin will be sentenced at a later date, the paper said. 

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