Hoarding - over 200 dogs and cats found dead
Temecula, CA (US)Incident Date: Friday, Jan 23, 2009
County: Riverside
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Case Images: 6 files available
Alleged: Elisao Gilbert Jimenez
Case Updates: 4 update(s) available
A 66-year-old Temecula man was arrested Friday afternoon when 200 dead dogs and cats were found on his property in the 39000 block of Liefer Road, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said in a news release.
Deputies were called to the property after someone reported a vicious dog, the department said.
When officers arrived they found dead dogs and cats behind the residence, living dogs in the backyard and living cats inside the house, said Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez.
Gutierrez said he did not know how many animals were found alive. He said they were taken by Riverside County Department of Animal Services.
Some of the animals were in poor health, the department said.
Elisao Gilbert Jimenez, the owner of the animals, was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty, the department said.
The Sheriff's Department is asking anyone with information about the case to call 951-696-3000.
Case UpdatesLocal and county animal control officials acknowledge they could have been more aggressive with Elisao Jimenez, the Temecula man at the center of last month's allegations of animal cruelty.
Yet without more legal authority, resources and clear evidence of cruelty, officials as well as state and national animal advocates say the tragedy could not have been prevented.
More than 200 dead cats and dogs were found decomposing in plastic bags at Jimenez's Liefer Road residence Jan. 23. An additional 104 feral and disease-ridden animals were found alive, but later were euthanized. Nine puppies and one adult dog were saved and are recovering.
No formal charges have been brought against Jimenez, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney's office. Prosecutors will decide whether to charge Jimenez once they receive the case from Sheriff's Department investigators, Hall said. Animal cruelty can be charged as either a misdemeanor or felony, depending on the severity of the alleged crime.
Jimenez was arrested Jan. 23 on suspicion of animal cruelty. He posted bond on $5,000 bail and was released from jail the same day. He is scheduled to be arraigned in late February.
Several animal control officials, when asked by a reporter last week, said they have begun to reflect on what more they could have done to stop Jimenez.
"I'm sure there's room for improvement," said Willa Bagwell, executive director of Animal Friends of the Valleys, which provides animal control services for Temecula. "Instead of waiting for people (who had complained repeatedly about Jimenez) to contact us (again), we could have gone over to them."
"The only thing I'd do differently is probably keep a little more heat on him. ... A lot more visits," said Riverside County animal control Lt. John Stephens, who inspected Jimenez's property over the several years Jimenez lived in Aguanga, a small town in unincorporated Riverside County.
Many local residents, including Jimenez's neighbors past and present, have asked why Temecula authorities did not do more to investigate the 66-year-old animal owner. They've also asked why county authorities did not seize Jimenez's many dogs when they inspected his Aguanga property several years ago.
Records from the two agencies show neighbors complained repeatedly about barking dogs at Jimenez's residences. They also show he was cited several times for having too many dogs, dogs running loose and unlicensed dogs.
Authorities have said three situations would have triggered a search of the Temecula property: permission from Jimenez, which Temecula officials say he denied; authorities witnessing very sick or injured animals; or a combination of evidence presented by neighbors and authorities ---- including sworn statements, photos, audio or video recordings ---- leading to a search warrant.
No animals ---- sick, injured or otherwise ---- could be seen from the edge of Jimenez's fenced-off property, officials from Animal Friends of the Valleys have said.
Jimenez's home sits atop a small hill, shaded by several trees. It's more than 100 yards from a locked chain-link fence. From the rear of the property, 6-foot-tall plywood boards block the view of kennels behind Jimenez's double-wide trailer.
In other investigations, animal control officers have used neighboring properties to peer into a residence where suspected animal cruelty has taken place. In this case, there was no vantage point on the ground that would have helped, as Jimenez's home was higher than any of his neighbors' homes, Bagwell said.
"There's no way anyone can see into that property," she added.
In San Diego County, animal control officials have, in some cases, used law enforcement helicopters to view a property, said Dan DeSousa, a spokesman for the San Diego County Animal Services Department.
Bagwell said she never considered using a helicopter. With just four barking dog complaints in 17 months, plus two complaints about loose dogs, Bagwell said using such a resource wasn't justified.
"There's nothing we love more than to catch those (animal) hoarders," she said. "We had no clue this was going on and didn't have the means to get on the property."
Back in Aguanga, Lt. Stephens searched Jimenez's property several times ---- Jimenez lived in the small town off and on for about a decade, until moving in 2006, according to records and statements from neighbors.
Stephens said his agency made progress with Jimenez at one point, persuading the owner to reduce the "40something dogs" on his property to 20 or so.
Jimenez was cited each time he was found with too many animals, Stephens said. But because the owner always paid his fines, the matter never led to a court-ordered seizure of the additional animals, the lieutenant added.
In late February 2006, Jimenez abandoned the Aguanga property, leaving behind 25 dogs, county records show. Two were dead. But because animal control officials did not know where Jimenez had gone, they did not ask the county's district attorney's office to prosecute, said John Welsh, spokesman for the Riverside County Animal Services Department.
"When people bolt, and we don't know where they bolt to, it becomes a lesser case," Welsh said. "When we take cases to the DA's office, we tend to focus on the ones we know will be successful."
Abandoned and dead animals are found nearly every day, he said, adding, "We sincerely share the public's concern if there's the sentiment that not enough was done, or more could have been done. ... We share their frustration."
Without knowing where Jimenez went, no warning was ever given to officials in Temecula about the animal owner and his history of violations, county officials said.
"We thought he'd moved out of state or something," Stephens added.
State and national animal advocates say animal control agencies often are limited in what they can do to prevent "animal hoarding."
The culprits often are very good at hiding their many animals, said Kristin Dejournett, an animal cruelty case worker with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, based in Norfolk, Va.
When agencies do find out about hoarding, they often don't have the resources to take in all of the abused animals, added Dana Campbell, an attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, based in the Northern California city of Cotati.
"For that very reason, some cities continue to cite without ever taking the animals out of there," Campbell said."It's a huge drain on resources."
Campbell estimated that in about one-third of animal cruelty cases, officials have enough evidence to conduct a search but choose not to because of a lack of resources, such as space at local shelters.
In some cases, cities will house abused horses at the local fairgrounds. In others, officials have no option but to leave the animals at the site where they found them, and care for them there.
Sometimes foster families are found, advocates noted.
As a last resort, the animals are euthanized, they said. | Source: NCTimes.com - Feb 14, 2009
Update posted on Feb 19, 2009 - 3:42PM |
Despite dozens of complaints and a documented history of animal violations that stretches half a decade, Temecula and Riverside County animal control officials said that until Jan. 23 they never had the authority to stop Elisao Jimenez from creating what turned out to be one of the most gruesome animal cruelty scenes they have ever encountered.
More than 200 dead cats and dogs were found decomposing in plastic bags at Jimenez's Liefer Road residence in late January. Another 115 feral and disease-ridden animals were found alive but were later euthanized.
Several of Jimenez's neighbors, both past and present, said last week they had complained for years to animal control authorities about what sounded like packs of dogs barking at his residence, about vicious dogs running loose near their homes and about the shrill screams that sounded like Jimenez's dogs tearing one another apart.
Records obtained from Temecula's animal control agency show officers responded to Jimenez's home numerous times but did little more than cite him for barking violations and for having too many dogs.
Riverside County animal control records show officers responded largely the same way to complaints when Jimenez lived with numerous dogs in Aguanga.
Authorities say that's all they legally could do. Nearly every time they responded, their records show, they did not hear barking dogs and thus had no exigent circumstances, a life-threatening situation in which officers are allowed to enter a property.
"The laws protect these people," said Monqunec Middleton, the supervising animal control officer for Temecula. "(Jimenez) complied (by always paying his fines). We had no reason to enter his property."
A hole in Jimenez's Liefer Road fence changed everything Jan. 23.
Two large and vicious rottweiler-mix dogs had escaped through the hole and were running loose that Friday afternoon, up and down the dirt road on Temecula's northeast edge.
Temecula animal control officers chased the dogs back onto the 5-acre rural property and then were required to confront Jimenez about the fence, Middleton said. Up until then, animal control officers had always spoken to Jimenez, known by neighbors as "Tony" and described as very private, over the phone or in front of his locked gate, several hundred yards down a hill from his residence.
As the two officers knocked on the door to Jimenez's double-wide trailer, they felt the small porch they were standing on begin to vibrate.
"All the dogs in the house rushed to the door," Middleton said, recalling what her officers told her on the phone that afternoon. "He said he thinks there's hundreds of dogs in there."
He wasn't far off.
The two officers retreated from the residence and nine additional animal control staffers were called in.
They would spend the next several hours at one of the most horrific scenes authorities had ever discovered.
Bags of decomposing animals littered the property, the officers said. The ammonia from the urine-soaked trailer initially prevented officers from opening their eyes.
Forty-seven dogs were found alive inside the two-bedroom trailer, according to reports, and another 35 were found alive in kennels inside what Middleton described as a square "fortress" of chain link fencing wired tight to 6-foot-tall plywood boards.
No pet food was found save for a small bowl of cat food in a bathroom in the mobile home.
Shortly after arriving, officers said, they watched in horror as a pack of dogs killed one of their own, ripping it apart.
Jimenez, 66, was arrested that day by Temecula police on suspicion of animal cruelty. He posted bond on $5,000 bail Saturday and was released from jail the same day.
Jimenez is scheduled to be arraigned in late February, however the Riverside County district attorney's office has yet to formally charge him.
News of the grisly scene shocked some neighbors and enraged others. Several, including two who lived next to Jimenez at his previous residence in Aguanga, said they were saddened but not altogether surprised about what was found.
Between them, records show, the present and former neighbors had made dozens of complaints to animal control authorities over a decade.
"I called repeatedly," said Janet Allen, who can see Jimenez's residence from her backyard on Diego Drive. "I called and told them this is not normal barking. It sounds like they're killing each other. It sounds like there's 20 dogs over there."
Activity logs from the Animal Friends of the Valleys, the nonprofit that runs Temecula's animal shelter and serves as the city's animal enforcement, show that Allen called twice in 2007 and another neighbor called three times the same year.
All five times, animal control officers responded to the property. Each time, they found the gate locked and couldn't hear any barking. So, their logs show, they left notices for Jimenez to call them and then left.
Christine Todd was Jimenez's neighbor for about a decade in Aguanga, before Jimenez moved in 2006. Their homes were next door on White Mountain Road.
During that time, Todd estimates, she had at least 40 conversations with Riverside County Animal Services staff members about Jimenez's animals, including several talks with the department's supervisor, Lt. John Stephens.
Only fines, Todd said, were ever handed out to Jimenez.
"Nobody seemed to be interested in preventing him from breeding animals or doing the full seizure that needed to be done," said Todd, who runs an animal grooming business in Temecula.
Neighbors on White Mountain Road and animal control staff found upwards of 40 dogs on the property when Jimenez left. Several were dead.
"We said when he left, the same thing's going to happen again," added Joe Pulido, also a White Mountain Road neighbor.
Pulido, like several neighbors reached for comment, said he felt animal control officers had their hands tied when it came to preventing the conditions Jimenez created.
In an interview Friday, Lt. Stephens said he remembers Jimenez well, calling him "your typical (animal) hoarder."
He said he inspected Jimenez's property several times. And while he often found more dogs than allowed ---- residents in Temecula and unincorporated Riverside County are limited to four dogs, unless they have a kennel permit ---- the animals never appeared abused or malnourished, Stephens said.
"We really had no authority to take 'em," the lieutenant said, adding that Jimenez was always cooperative and paid his fines. "There was never anything in that bad a shape up there. Believe me, we would have loved to have moved on the guy to get rid of the complaints."
Stephens said there is no amount of animal citations that triggers a search of a property, something he acknowledged officials should consider implementing.
Back in Temecula, on a warm, windy afternoon last week, neighbor Janet Allen offered a plan of action.
"There should be something done to give (animal control officers) more authority to investigate when someone says there's dogs in danger," she said.
"Something needs to be changed," Allen added. "I would love to see that happen from this tragedy. Maybe something good can come from it." | Source: North County Times - Jan 31, 2009
Update posted on Feb 1, 2009 - 7:50PM |
More than 100 cats and dogs were euthanized Friday night after authorities found them living at a filthy Temecula home.
It all started when a neighbor complained about two vicious dogs running loose in a mobile home. Animal control officers investigating the claim around 11:45 Friday morning discovered dozens of dogs and cats both dead and alive.
Temecula animal control officer Jack Nelson said, "It felt like an earthquake with all the dogs inside. We just both looked at each other and said, 'oh my God, do you hear that?'"
There were more than 100 feral dogs and cats running wild inside.
"My eyes burned so bad," Nelson said. "It's probably one of the worst smells I've ever encountered."
The animals were placed in makeshift kennels inside and near the Temecula mobile home.
Nelson described the scene: "[There were] 40 of them in that one pen, in another pen they had two dogs. In another pen they had 15 dogs at least, and as we're walking around to the back you could smell death."
Among the malnourished animals were decomposing dogs and cats.
Nelson said he and his partner witnessed something they will never forget while they were on the property: a pack of dogs killed one of their own.
"Within an hour they were eating the dog," he said.
Elisao Jimenez, the 66-year-old who lived on the property and owned the dogs, has been arrested and booked on suspicion of animal cruelty.
"Its a shame," Nelson said. "A lot of those dogs could have been saved if he'd have just called and asked for help."
Willa Bagwell, the executive director of the Animal Friends of the Valleys, says Jimenez told her the situation got out of hand.
"He started with a few; they started inbreeding. He didn't want to bring them to a shelter where they would be euthanized," Bagwell said.
Only nine puppies and the owner's personal dog, Johnny Otis, were spared.
"It breaks my heart that those animals lived that way," Bagwell said. "There's no reason for it."
The nine puppies are being sent to foster homes until they're big enough to be adopted.
Ten-year-old Johnny Otis is available for adoption. If you are interested, contact the Animal Friends of the Valleys at (951) 674-0618. | Source: 10 News - Jan 27, 2009
Update posted on Feb 1, 2009 - 7:50PM |
A Temecula man who was arrested last week for allegedly housing animals in "horrific" conditions had received previous pet-related citations in Aguanga, Riverside County court records show.
The story has garnered national attention in the media, blogs and animal advocate Web sites.
Elisao Gilbert Jimenez, 66, faces a felony animal cruelty charge in connection with a Jan. 23 investigation of his rented home in the 39500 block of Liefer Road in the Nicolas Valley area of Temecula.
The number of dead animals seized, and the conditions in which the living animals were kept, prompted authorities to describe the case as one of the most "gruesome" in recent memory.
Among the most heart-wrenching aspects of the case, said the chief of the city's animal control contractor, was that some of the dead dogs had been eaten by other canines.
"It is one of the worst cases of abuse that I have witnessed in 21 years," Willa Bagwell, executive director of Animal Friends of the Valleys (AFV), said in a press release. "I have never [before] been in a place where cannibalism was present."
Jan. 23: The discovery
"We're going to be here a while," Temecula police Lt. Charlie Wilhite said as he surveyed an array of vehicles that had encircled a mobile home where authorities had been summoned on a vicious dog call at about 12:05 p.m. Jan. 23.
Upon their arrival and for sometime thereafter, investigators were inundated by overpowering odors and a steady barrage of barking.
At one time, the array of official vehicles included four Temecula police cars, two code enforcement pickups and a half-dozen animal control trucks and vans.
They were later joined by a truck with a tall, green cargo container attached to its bed. The container was nearly full of animal carcasses when it left the property hours later.
Animal control workers could be seen using long poles with rope snares to capture dogs � of just about all sizes, colors and breeds � and place them into vans and
trucks for inspection and possible removal.
Neighbor Mike McClure said he had complained "a couple of times" of loud barking coming from the property across the street.
Bill and Jeanette Marble, who live along Diego Dr. behind the targeted property, said they had complained six or seven times over the past few years.
They said they did not complain Friday and did not know what sparked the investigation that day.
"We've been trying to get this resolved for years and it's finally coming to fruition," Bill Marble said in an interview.
Jeanette Marble said she had spotted at least 10 dogs on the property at times, and the amount of barking coming from the area led her to believe that many more dogs than that were housed there.
"I don't know what took them so long to investigate it, but at least they're doing something," she said.
Jeanette said she would sometimes hear a man yelling at the dogs. She said one of her calls to animal control officials was prompted by the sounds of yelping as though someone was striking an animal.
The couple said that early morning call drew a response from a police officer or an animal control worker, but the noise had stopped by the time the officer arrived and he did not venture beyond the property's locked front gate.
Not the first time
The Temecula investigation was not Jimenez's first brush with authorities over animal care issues.
In April and May 2004, before Jimenez moved to his current rental home in Temecula, he was cited for violating a pair of county animal control ordinances.
While living along White Mountain Road in Aguanga, Jimenez was cited for letting one or more dogs run loose and for operating a kennel without a permit.
The kennel citation was issued in May 2004, after authorities found 11 adult dogs of assorted breeds at his home.
That citation came about one month after the loose dog violation occurred, according to court records.
He was fined a total of $530 for the two violations, records show.
Efforts to reach Jimenez by telephone were unsuccessful Tuesday.
Neighbors of the Liefer Road property where last week's investigation took place say Jimenez has lived there for perhaps up to four years.
He kept to himself, they said, although the loud noise of dogs barking had sparked numerous complaints to animal control officials.
A pair of animal control officers initially went to the five-acre lot � where a red barn and a mobile home anchor the top of a tree-covered knoll � after receiving a call of two loose dogs, possibly vicious, in the early afternoon of Jan. 23.
Those officers, as well as numerous police and code enforcement officials, found numerous makeshift kennels that contained more than 80 dogs, mostly mixed breeds with Rottweiler and chow characteristics.
The dogs had access to the mobile home, although part of it was blocked off to house 33 feral cats.
"The floors were covered in feces and urine," Bagwell said in the press release. "The home was completely uninhabitable."
As the search of the property progressed, investigators found the bodies of 204 dogs and cats in plastic bags in various states of decomposition.
The bags were being stored in boxes, cans and other containers in sheds and elsewhere on the property, officials said.
Six animal control officials, as well as at least four police and code enforcement officers, spent about 12 hours there investigating the case, capturing the live animals and overseeing the removal of the carcasses, Bagwell said.
Scores of the surviving dogs and cats, which had seemingly reverted to a feral state, had to be euthanized because they were deemed too ill, malnourished or aggressive to recover or place in homes.
At least 10 animals � nine puppies and a 10-year-old cockapoo dog � are expected to live and will likely be offered for adoption by AFV, she said.
The case unfolded in one of Temecula's last rural enclaves. Liefer Road and its adjoining cul-de-sacs are unpaved and have a washboard-like texture.
In the past, residents complained of washed-out areas following heavy rains; they are working with the city to possibly form an assessment district to install drainage culverts and pave the dirt roads.
Concerns over emergency vehicle access prompted the city to stop issuing building permits in the area several years ago.
The mobile home and the barn, which has a foldout camper tucked inside, are set back from the road.
"No trespassing" signs are fixed to the gate and a barbed-wire-laced roadside section of the rectangular five-acre property that lines the road.
A dirt driveway leads up to the home and barn.
The scene drew the attention of several neighbors and others weighed in later in telephone interviews and Internet postings.
The owner of the property, a Temecula resident, visited the scene while the investigation was underway.
Jo Subik, who lives in the area, said the owner had been unaware of the number of animals kept there, the storage of the dead animals or the condition of the property.
The Subiks said Tuesday afternoon that their recent efforts to reach the owner, whom they did not identify, have been unsuccessful.
Jimenez was released from the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley the day after his arrest, according to county records, in lieu of $5,000 bail.
He is scheduled to be arranged on the animal cruelty charge Feb. 23 at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley, records show. | Source: Valley News - Jan 24, 2009
Update posted on Feb 1, 2009 - 7:48PM |
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