Hoarding - 16 kittens found dead
California Hot Springs, CA (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009
County: Tulare
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Coral Kerr
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
Thirty-five kittens were found dead Tuesday inside a home in southeast Tulare County, the Tulare County Sheriff's Department reported.
Found alive in "various stages of health": 20 cats, 12 dogs and one sheep. The surviving animals were removed from the property in California Hot Springs, about 66 miles southeast of Visalia, and taken to Tulare County Animal Control, deputies reported.
Several required immediate veterinary care, officials said.
Coral Kerr, 62, lives at the property. She could be charged with animal cruelty, Lt. Keith Douglass said.
"All our findings will be forwarded to the District Attorney's Office for review," he said.
Tulare County animal-control officials first approached the residence June 10, deputies reported, after receiving a complaint about the number and condition of animals there. Agents "gave notice" that the animals' living conditions had to improve, Douglass said, but it wasn't until Tuesday that a team of investigators, accompanied by a deputy, returned.
The investigators representing animal control and the Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency ' discovered the dead kittens, Douglass said.
"We're trying to determine why there was a delay [in discovering the kittens]," Douglass said.
Investigators also want to know whether Kerr was home at the time of the June 10 visit, he said.
The Sheriff's Department did not disclose whether Kerr has a criminal history or whether similar complaints have been lodged against her in the past. Kerr could not be reached for comment.
Douglass said the case has yet to receive the full attention of animal control officials because the main investigator has been "tied up with other duties," Douglass said. Tim Brown, head of animal control, "said his guy can't get to it right now," Douglass said.
Brown also was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
Allison Lambert, spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Agency, said in a written statement that the Sheriff's Department was the lead investigative agency in the case. Animal control is "cooperating and in full support of the ongoing investigation," the statement read.
Case UpdatesMore than two months after officials seized 32 cats and dogs, one ram and 16 dead kittens from a property in southeastern Tulare County, the property owner, a 62-year-old California Hot Springs woman, is speaking out about the animal cruelty charges filed against her.
Coral Kerr says she was a diligent and loving caretaker for the animals, some of which she owned. Others, Kerr said, she rescued from the surrounding forest before they were shot by unknown gunmen for target practice.
The cats and dogs roamed her remote 1-acre property, which backs up to the Sequoia National Forest, and the property's two buildings, including Kerr's living quarters, Kerr said.
They were given heated pads, all the food they needed -- home-cooked chicken and rice, kibble and canned chow -- and were cleaned up after with "the highest priced" pet litter and an enzyme-activated waste disposal system, Kerr said.
"My animals are my family," she said in an phone interview Thursday. "This [property] is a playland for them."
Reports from the Tulare County Animal Control Shelter and Sheriff's Department, however, paint a different picture.
On June 16, six days after animal control officers first visited Kerr's home on a complaint from a neighbor, a sheriff's deputy and animal control officer found her house reeking of urine and feces. Inside they reported seeing fecal matter spread on the kitchen floor up to 8 inches deep.
More than 20 cats were counted emerging from different rooms and hiding places. Several cats and dogs were locked in a bedroom and bathroom upstairs. Five dead cats were found in a stack of animal carriers inside the house and 16 dead kittens were found inside a large freezer, according to the reports. (Initial sheriff's reports listed the number of dead kittens at 35, but the figure was revised downward).
Of the 12 dogs seized, two had open sores around their mouths and one had sores consistent with being constantly muzzled, according to the sheriff's report.
Most of the 20 cats had "indications of respiratory infections, runny noses, sneezing and eye infections," while the ram appeared not have been sheared in up to three years, according to the report. | Source: Visalia Times-Delta - Aug 31, 2009
Update posted on Aug 31, 2009 - 12:27PM |
A woman accused of keeping dozens of cats and dogs and one sheep in squalid conditions on her southeast Tulare County property pleaded not guilty Wednesday to three misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty.
Coral Kerr, 62, entered her plea during an arraignment in Tulare County Superior Court in Porterville.
Investigators with the Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency found 35 dead kittens inside a home on Kerr's California Hot Springs property June 16, according to the Tulare County Sheriff's Department. Twenty cats, 12 dogs and the sheep were found alive in various stages of health, the sheriff's department reported.
The surviving animals were removed from the property, about 66 miles southeast of Visalia, and taken to Tulare County Animal Control, deputies reported.
The visit to Kerr's property was the second by the county in June. On June 10, after receiving a complaint about the number and condition of animals on the property, Tulare County animal control officials "gave notice" that the animals' living conditions had to improve, a sheriff's official said.
Six days later, health investigators returned and found the dead kittens.
"We're trying to determine why there was a delay [in discovering the kittens]," Lt. Keith Douglass said at the time.
The Sheriff's Department offered no additional details about the case Wednesday.
Kerr was never arrested in the case, a Tulare County District Attorney spokeswoman said Wednesday.
A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Aug. 31 in Porterville. | Source: Visalia Times - Aug 13, 2009
Update posted on Aug 13, 2009 - 1:12PM |
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