A 28-year-old Glen Burnie woman was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison and three years' probation -- the maximum allowed under her conviction of two counts of animal mutilation.

"She needs to be in her own cage for a period of time," prosecutor Kimberly DiPietro said. "At least, she'll know she'll get fed."

Anne Arundel County Judge Paul A. Hackner called the animal abuse case the worst he had ever seen.

County animal control officers discovered five dead dogs and four starving ones when they investigated a neighbor's complaint about Kelly Lynn Schreck.

Lawyers said Schreck intended to breed Great Danes, but due to marital and emotional problems became overwhelmed: "Words cannot express the sadness ... over the loss of my dogs ...My life was in constant turmoil and I was depressed," she said in a statement read into the court record.

The judge banned Schreck from owning pets for five years and ordered her to repay the county almost $8,000 in veterinary fees.

Four dogs were found alive by animal control officers: Parker, Abby, Fancy and Hannah. Hannah later died.

Karen Quatman, an Annapolis member of the Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League, which arranged for the adoption of two of the surviving dogs, said yesterday's sentence "was better than what we expected."

Susan Hughes, a Prince William County, Va., woman who adopted Fancy, a 4-year-old Great Dane, said in a letter to the judge that Fancy came to her home "a timid girl unsure of her surroundings, fearful of men and hands coming near her face." She gained 40 pounds in the first month after her rescue and "has blossomed into this regal, loving creature that just wants to be loved and cared for."

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(Photo courtesy of Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's Office)