Dead & neglected dogs found in rat infested home
San Antonio, TX (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Jun 30, 2011
County: Bexar
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Linda Edwards
It's being called an extreme case of animal hoarding.
Authorities find a dozen dead dogs inside a woman's home and her car.
Even more dogs were found barely alive, cooped up in cages.
All of this happened in a quiet neighborhood on Bare Back Trail in northwest San Antonio.
Robert Price walks us through the mess in a Fox News at Nine exclusive.
Eight sick dogs are lined up in the front yard of a suspected hoarder. They're carried out in cages by men in gas masks.
"It was much more serious than we expected," said animal cruelty specialist Audra Houghton.
Their toenails are overgrown. Some have matted feces in their fur. Others have no fur, possibly from mange.
"This is probably one of the worst ones that we've seen," said Houghton.
"I'm kind of shell-shocked," added neighbor Donald Parker.
Neighbors say they've suspected something wasn't right about this house for years.
"Even though it looks normal, the stench is so pungent that you can tell something died," Parker said. "Something's not normal in there."
The city attorney's Dangerous Assessment Response Team -- or DART -- considers the homeowner, Linda Edwards, a hoarder. The team, made up of police, fire, animal care services, and code compliance employees got the warrant to search her house.
"There are feces throughout the house, the carpets are soaked with animal waste," said Houghton.
"We saw at least 15 rats," said Parker.
There's a strong smell of ammonia. Soon HAZMAT is on scene to monitor the air quality inside the home. Once inside, alongside piles of trash and air fresheners, officers find three dead dogs.
"One was found under a bed. The other two were found in garbage bags heavily decomposed," said Houghton.
Evidence also reveals Edwards had been preserving some of the dogs in her refrigerator.
"You get to the point where nothing surprises you," said Lisa Norwood of Animal Care Services.
Three hours into the investigation, officers make a gruesome discovery: three more dead dogs inside the car of Edwards. It's the same car she sat in while they searched her home.
They keep looking. In the front and back seat, they find even more garbage bags and more dead dogs.
"There's nine deceased animals in various stages of decomposition that were found in bags," says Norwood. "(They were) in garbage bags, inside the vehicle itself."
Edwards complained of chest pains and was taken to Methodist Hospital. Meantime, a veterinarian checked out the dogs, who now belong to the city.
"I'm hopeful that the eight dogs that we pulled out are able to be treated and put up for adoption," says Houghton.
Linda Edwards was arrested and charged with 16 counts of animal cruelty. Each count carries a possible one-year prison sentence. References |
