Hoarding 130 animals Hazel Park, MI (US) Incident Date: Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002 County: Oakland Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Alleged: » Barbara Kuhaupt » John Kuhaupt

Case ID: 1028 Classification: Hoarding Animal: cat, dog (non pit-bull), bird (wildlife), reptile View more cases in MI (US) Login to Watch this Case

The Hazel Park woman whose home was raided for housing more than 130 animals said she has every right to do so and that authorities overstated the poor condition of her home.

"I'm not Martha Stewart by no means," Barbara Kuhaupt said Wednesday outside the house the city deemed uninhabitable.

Several dogs and cats remained at the home in the 300 block of West Milton Street, raided June 18, 2002. Police, city animal-control officers and the Michigan Humane Society pulled out 126 animals ranging from a 12-foot python to an exotic breed of duck.

Police acted on a search warrant based on neighborhood complaints about the smell and conditions of the home.

Marta Diffen, a Humane Society spokeswoman, said the animals were taken to Humane Society shelters in Detroit and Rochester Hills. Kuhaupt and her husband, John Kuhaupt, voluntarily signed over some of the animals to the society, as well.

"There were no signs of abuse," Diffen said. "I saw just very unsanitary conditions, and some of the animals looked like they might have had health issues."

The next step for many of the creatures is a veterinary checkup, followed by a behavioral evaluation. Authorities said they will try to place those that are suitable for adoption; Diffen said those with infectious diseases or behavior problems may have to be euthanatized.

Kuhaupt said she has been ill recently, which might have prevented her from caring for the animals as well as she could. She said the authorities took more than 50 rats from the home -- which she said were kept as food for the pet snakes. They also took birds, hamsters, guppies, ferrets and a litter of puppies she was keeping in her basement for friends who were moving into a new home.

Kuhaupt said she was stunned that police knocked down the front door while no one was home -- a move she called overzealous.

"If this is America, I don't know if I want to live here anymore," she said as she tried to remove a U.S. flag sticker from her front door. "This is the land of the free? Yeah, right."

City Manager Ed Klobucher said the couple face misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty and violating the city's limit of three cats or dogs per household. He said the family cannot live in the home until it's brought up to a livable condition.

The home wasn't perceptibly pungent from the street Wednesday, but neighbor Joseph Morello said that at times he could smell it at his place, several doors down the block.

He supported the raid.

"They had a good reason to do it," the retired Pittsburgh Plate Glass worker said. "It's been a problem for quite a while. I guess some people in the neighborhood got tired of it and complained."

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