Hoarding - dozens of animals found dead - Charlottesville, VA

Wednesday, Apr 16, 2003

County: Charlottesville City

Disposition: Not Charged

Person of Interest: Charles Hutcherson

Officials have boarded up a house where inspectors found a decayed dog carcass, a large snapping turtle trapped in its own feces and two dozen rotting rats.

Inspectors also found a dozen aquariums filled with exotic creatures ranging from boa constrictors to tropical tree frogs. City police Sgt. Wendy Lewis called the house "almost unbearable."

"It actually, to me, smelled like decaying flesh. It was that putrid," she said. The housed contained dozens of live animals and trash piled to the ceiling.

Police responded to a 911 hang-up at Charles Hutcherson's house shortly before midnight April 16. After learning Hutcherson, 58, was disabled, the officers forced their way in and found him in his living room.

Hutcherson was taken to the Virginia Medical Center, and the officers, wearing gas masks, returned to make sure no one else was inside. Hutcherson has been served with a "notice of unsafe structure." He has until May 17 to clean up his house.

John Ashcraft owns a pest control company and removed the animals. He found more than 10 pet containers, mostly aquariums, in a spare room in the house.

Altogether, he said, they contained five snakes, including a 4 1/2-foot boa constrictor, two frogs, a half-dozen white lab rats, about 10 white lab mice, the snapping turtle and a dove. He also discovered six snake skeletons and two dozen rat bones.

The decomposing dog was in a hallway between a bedroom and bathroom, he said. "He had to step over it every time he went to the bathroom or to bed," Ashcraft said. "It had been dead so long it didn't even have an odor."

Fred Lundmark, owner of the Pet Barn, had found homes for each of the animals except three snakes, which he plans to sell. And he set the turtle free in someone's pond.

References

• The Daily Press

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