Renee Piper

From Mirror staff reports

A Bedford County woman sentenced in September to 7.5 to 40 years in prison for animal cruelty was disbarred on consent Friday, according to the state Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court.

Renee Lynn Piper, 64, alongside husband Nyal Barton Piper, 83, pleaded no contest to 20 felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals – torture, 20 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and 10 summary counts of failure to keep dog license. Their remaining 435 charges were dismissed.

In an order dated Feb. 20, the disciplinary board announced that Piper, a former Bedford County attorney, “had been disbarred on consent from the Bar of this Commonwealth, effective March 22, 2026.”

The disbarment is the latest update in what Bedford County President Judge Travis Livengood called one of the “most extreme” cases of animal abuse and hoarding he had seen.

The charges were filed in March 2024 after a state police search of the Piper’s Bedford Township residence on New Year’s Eve 2023 uncovered nearly 100 animals kept in squalid cages stacked floor to ceiling. The cages, often three or four high, were rusted and caked with feces and matted fur, with several containing animal carcasses.

Many of the animals rescued from the property displayed untreated sores and other signs of severe neglect that required immediate medical intervention.