Police suspect home used as slaughterhouse
Pittsburgh, PA (US)

Incident Date: Wednesday, Sep 28, 2011
County: Allegheny

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Xia Xue Vue

A West End man could face up to 38 charges of animal cruelty with the prospect of more as police investigate their suspicions that Xia Xue Vue slaughtered animals in his basement, Pittsburgh police said on Thursday.

Police seized 15 chickens living in filth from the home on McKnight Street on Wednesday.

"It was absolutely disgusting," Pittsburgh police Officer Christine Luffey said.

No one answered the door yesterday afternoon at the home where police say Vue, 80, lives with his wife and several adult children. Some windows to the home were blocked with cardboard, and the lawn was strewn with white and gray feathers.

Police are pursuing leads that indicate Vue was selling animals he slaughtered, Luffey said.

Allegheny County Health Department spokesman Guillermo Cole said if a police investigation shows Vue sold slaughtered animals, both he and the buyer could be in violation of health regulations.

Vue's involvement with animals has put him in trouble with the law before. Court documents show Vue pled guilty to five counts of animal cruelty in June 2010.

The citations in that case, filed by a Western Pennsylvania Humane Society officer, show Vue confined four goats, 15 ducks, about 25 chickens and three chicks in small enclosures that either failed to shield them from the elements, were poorly ventilated or had mud and feces inside on a property on Scotia Hollow Road in Jefferson Hills.

"He claims he's ignorant of the law," Luffey said. "The truth is, he's just plain ignorant."

Pittsburgh ordinances prohibit slaughter of animals unless the property owner has five acres and an enclosed space designated for such purposes. Luffey expects the animal cruelty charges -- one for each animal found -- and a charge of illegal slaughter to be filed by next week.

The charges police say they will file against Vue would originate from a visit they made to his home on Sept. 22 with a warrant for his son, Chai Vue, 44.

Chai Vue, who faces a charge of possession of a controlled substance, was not there and still is being sought. But when the elder Vue let the officers inside his house, they "knew something was wrong because of the smell," Luffey said.

In the basement, they discovered a bloody meat cleaver and wooden stump, 12 chickens and nine pigeons.

"There was blood all over the floor. There were feathers all over the floor. There was blood on the crates," Luffey said.

Luffey obtained a search warrant and found 15 chickens that "couldn't move in their cages. They were in their own waste with no food and no water, just waiting for their fate," she said.

The search uncovered three large freezers that contained everything from a dead squirrel and dead chickens to goat and pig heads.

"There were all kinds of limbs," Luffey said.

References

• « PA State Animal Cruelty Map
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