Wow. Just, wow. 70 dogs and 35 cats is bad enough ... but that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Woman Charged in Connection with Animal Rescue [link]They were given warnings, and months to fix the problems. Incredible.
Chris Grogan | Aug 12, 2008
Pleasant Hope, MO—It's the largest animal rescue this state has ever seen. Tonight, the Missouri Humane Society is in the process of transferring more than 300 animals from a filthy Polk County home, to shelters in the St. Louis area. Among the animals seized in the rescue today were more than 70 dogs, 51 rabbits, 40 exotic birds, more than 35 cats, 25 ducks, 25 chickens, 25 hamsters, 10 goats, 10 mice, 7 pigeons, 6 donkeys, 5 horses, 5 peafowl, 1 pig and an unknown number of koi fish and goldfish. "I've never seen so many different types of animals with so much neglect. There's dogs, cats, donkeys, horses, rabbits, goats, pigs, pigeons, parakeets...I mean they're everywhere down there." Officials say both the family and the animals lived in filthy conditions with trash, feces and animal carcusses everywhere. Neighbors first began complaining months ago... the Humane Society began investigating and issued warnings to the family to clean the property up and get the animals in better condition. But the conditions just got worse. This morning, armed with a court order, the sheriff's department and the Humane Society began removing these animals. Almost all of the animals are malnourished and suffering. "And they're not just hording animals down there. There's trash and junk and magazines just stacked up. They kept taking in every stray they found. But they didn't have the money or the resources to take care of them." The Division of Family Services removed six children from the house earlier this week. Those are said to be from various extended family living on the property. As for the animals, the Humane Society will be moving most of them to its headquarters in St. Louis. The horses and farm animals are headed to a rescue ranch in Union, Missouri and the fish are going to a hatchery in Carthage.
Hoarding is not rescuing.
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