Hoarding
Arlington, TX (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Sep 12, 2007
County: Tarrant
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: woman
A woman and two of her three cats were removed Wednesday from a north Arlington home that city officials said was filled with several years' worth of accumulated trash, animal waste and fleas.
David Ousley said he has been working for more than a year since he bought the house on Tatum Drive to clean up the property and find assistance for the woman, who is a family friend. He said the woman has medical problems and has refused to let him inside the tan brick house east of Randol Mill Park.
Last week, he turned to the city for help.
"I'm not going to throw her out in the street. I want to help her. I want her to realize she can't live in that kind of situation," Ousley said.
The woman, who is not being identified by the Star-Telegram because she has not been arrested and faces only misdemeanor charges, was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth for psychiatric evaluation, officials said.
Community Services officials said the home has been without running water since 2003; officials said Wednesday that they were not aware that someone had been living in the home since then. It is against city code to live in a residence without running water.
Next-door neighbor Jason Evans said the woman came over regularly to fill water bottles, watch television and check the Internet but never asked for help. Rows of full water jugs were lined up on one side of the woman's home.
Ousley said that in the past year he has removed more than 280 bags of trash from the back yard as well as several dead cats.
"It was a nightmare," he said.
Animal Services inspectors said that they found evidence that the woman had been feeding the cats but that the animals were apparently using the whole house, including her bed, as a litter box.
The cats, which were filthy and had bald patches, were turned over to the woman's veterinarian for evaluation but appeared to be in overall good health, said Alan Pierce, Animal Services field operations supervisor. Animal control planned to set a trap to catch the third cat today. References« TX State Animal Cruelty Map
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