Hoarding 76 animals, a dozen dead in freezer
Forth Worth, TX (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Apr 12, 2007
County: Tarrant
Disposition: Alleged
Abuser names unreleased
Four weeks of investigation sparked by neighbors' complaints led animal control officers to a woman found in her car with 40 dogs, including about 35 Chihuahuas. A search of her home turned up more dogs and other animals, as well as about a dozen animal carcasses in her freezer, officials said Friday.
The couple who raised the pets are animal hoarders, authorities say.
"They have this compulsive behavior with animals," said Dave Fulbright, animal control supervisor for Fort Worth. "They see them as their children, and they see them (selves) as the animals' savior - their protector. They will keep them out of harm's way."
Each animal had a name and got expensive pet food. Some of the Chihuahuas even slept in their own baby cribs, complete with heating pads, food and water containers, tucked inside the master bedroom.
The discoveries began April 12 morning when animal control officers armed with a search warrant went to the home in Fort Worth, where they found several animals inside and outside the home. As they talked to neighbors they learned more about the woman who lived there.
"She had sometime in the recent past secured a U-Haul trailer, loaded it with dogs, as was witnessed by the neighbors, and took off somewhere," Fullbright said.
Assisted by Fort Worth police, he found the woman in her Buick at a local gas station.
Also in the car were 40 dogs, including 35 Chihuahuas.
The woman agreed to turn them over to animal control officers. In all, 57 dogs, seven cats, five birds, four rabbits, two ferrets and one guinea pig were seized.
"Every one of these animals had a name, and she knew every one of them, which is classic of hoarders," Fulbright said. "These were her babies. There were her children."
Fulbright said he sees four to five animal-hoarder cases a year in Fort Worth.
That two people were involved in this case is somewhat unusual, he said, but "the true hoarder was the female, and the gentleman who was residing there was protecting her," Fulbright said.
As is routine, Fulbright said, investigators searched closets and cabinets for any small animals that may have been hidden.
"In doing so, we also look inside things like refrigerators and freezers. Upon opening one of the freezer units located in the kitchen, we removed 10 dog carcasses, one rabbit and one cat carcass," Fulbright said.
Fulbright said animal hoarders sometimes keep remains because they have a difficult time letting an animal go.
The woman "was very disturbed about the fact that I had removed the animals from the freezer, because she was planning to have them cremated," Fulbright said. "By all indications, these animals had been there a long, long time." References« TX State Animal Cruelty Map
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