Pet-Abuse.Com - Animal Abuse Case Details: Hoarding - 38 cats seized, 114 found in freezer

Hoarding - 38 cats seized, 114 found in freezer
Murfreesboro, TN (US)

Incident Date: Sunday, Nov 30, 2003
County: Rutherford
Local Map: available
Disposition: Convicted

Abuser/Suspect: William Travis Davis

Case Updates: 3 update(s) available

Case ID: 2085

Classification: Hoarding

Animal: cat

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A Murfreesboro man who stored 114 dead cats in his home freezers has been charged with a second set of animal cruelty charges � all for keeping live pets in filthy conditions.

Moments before his court appearance on the first 10 animal cruelty charges, Rutherford County prosecutors told William ''Terry'' Davis, 72, that 38 more counts would be added.

The first 10 charges involve pets found in December at Davis' Calumet Trace condominium. The second set centers on 38 pets confiscated last month from his Arnold Road farm in the Christiana community.

Davis remains free on bail. His next court appearance is slated for March 23, 2004.

Davis, who said he battled symptoms of depression after his animals were first taken, said he has since received help and now feels much better. He's ready to resolve the case.

Davis has consistently denied the animal cruelty accusations and said he was saving his frozen pets until he could build a pet cemetery.

Pet freezing is legal.

Rutherford County Animal Services officers have requested a mental evaluation for Davis, to check for signs of animal ''hoarding,'' a behavior where people continue to take more pets than they can care for.

Case Updates

A man charged with animal cruelty after the frozen carcasses of more than 100 cats were found in freezers at his home is suing the authorities who seized the bodies.

William Terry Davis said in the lawsuit he filed last week that he was planning to bury the bodies in a pet cemetery he was preparing on his farm. He is seeking more than $1.5 million in damages.

Davis, 74, said he suffered emotional pain and suffering when police confiscated the frozen bodies of 114 cats, 39 live cats, five snakes and a dog from his home three years ago in an upscale golf course community in Murfreesboro and his farm in the nearby Christiana community.

Because of poor health, 31 of the living cats were euthanized.

The dead animals� bodies were stored in grocery bags, paper towels and boxes, stacked up inside several freezers.

The suit says that one of the kittens in the freezer was "so large at birth that (Davis) intended to submit it to the Guinness Book of Records."

Davis faced 48 charges of animal cruelty, but a judge threw out many of the cruelty counts after finding that police had illegally searched the Christiana property.

Davis pleaded guilty to one count and was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days of probation.

Source: KnoxNews - Jan 6, 2007
Update posted on Jan 7, 2007 - 1:23AM

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Davis pleaded guilty to one count in Circuit Court Thursday. Thirty-seven of the charges against William Travis "Terry" Davis were previously dropped Oct. 2 after Circuit Court Judge James Clayton ruled a search of Davis' farm failed to show probable cause.

The remaining eight charges were dropped Thursday in a plea agreement worked out between Assistant District Attorney Jude Santana and Defense Attorney Lance Selva.

By pleading guilty, Davis received a suspended sentence of 11 months and 29 days in jail and was ordered to pay a $100 fine and court costs.

Davis was charged with nine counts of animal cruelty at his 331 Calumet Trace home Dec. 28, and the remaining charges stemmed from the Dec. 31 search of his farm and mobile home on Arnold Road.

Thursday's plea agreement also allowed Davis to regain custody of his Doberman named Misty. The dog was confiscated during the investigation but found by Animal Control to be in good health.

The investigation began when Murfreesboro Police Officer Anthony Whitehead said he answered a call about Davis' dog running loose Dec. 28 of last year. After the dog ran into the house, Whitehead prepared to close the door when he noticed cat feces and a potent smell inside.

Whitehead said he feared the owner had died or suffered a medical emergency. The officer called Sgt. Don Fanning, who accompanied him in a search of the home.

Four cats were found confined to bathrooms without water. Other cats were running around the house, and feces were on the floor. Most of the animals were described as being thin, sick and having runny eyes.

Officers also found 114 deceased cats, one dog and five snakes in a freezer.

In an Oct. 2 hearing, Selva said officers had time to get a warrant before they entered Davis' home.

"You just can't go into someone's private home," he said.

Santana said Whitehead had justification to go to the open door of the home and check inside.

Clayton said the search was proper under the circumstances.

Selva obtained approval from the judge to appeal his decision of not dismissing the search of Davis' home to the Court of Criminal Appeals

All charges will be dropped and Davis' conviction removed if the Court of Criminal Appeals rule that officers did not have cause to search Davis' home.

Source: The Daily News Journal - Dec 3, 2004
Update posted on Dec 3, 2004 - 10:02AM

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A Murfreesboro man who kept 120 dead animals in freezers at his Indian Hills condo may face additional charges when all of the live cats at his Christiana trailer can be rounded up, according to animal control authorities.

Rutherford County Animal Services officials removed 27 cats from a trailer on farmland owned by William "Terry" Davis, 72, of Murfreesboro. Authorities were able to catch 11 more cats in a fenced-in barn on the property and estimate that there may be as many as 35 more cats there that they were unable to catch.

Davis was arrested Dec. 28 and charged with 10 counts of animal cruelty after Murfreesboro police responded to a complaint of a loose dog roaming the streets of the upscale neighborhood at the Indian Hills golf course.

According to the police report, the officer followed the dog to the Davis home and found the door open and "piles of dog feces ... and the home being in disarray." Fearing that the resident may be ill or deceased, police entered the home and found nine live cats and the dog and "feces from both animals covering the carpet, litter boxes overflowing with cat feces and no water for the animals to drink."

Police contacted animal control investigators, who removed all the cats and the dog from the home. According to the police report, it was the animal control officers who found a dead cat in the refrigerator. Upon further investigation of the house, the other deceased animals were found in the freezer in the house and in two freezers in the garage.

Davis has been quoted in The Tennessean that none of the dead animals were stored alongside food, but Darley has a photo of a dead kitten in the vegetable crisper drawer inside the home.

Three days after his arrest, Rutherford County sheriff deputies executed a search and seizure warrant on Davis' Christiana farm, where animal control officials found cats living in a trailer and in a barn surrounded by a fence.

Darley said that 31 of the cats from the Christiana trailer and one of the cats from the condo in Murfreesboro had to be euthanized due to poor health and stress. She said the 15 remaining cats are being treated for upper respiratory infections.

"Four of them are still very sick, but the other 11 are doing OK," Darley said. She said the dog, a doberman named Misty, is in good condition. Veterinarian Traci Helton of Mobile Veterinary Services in Franklin County is treating the animals. Helton assisted in removing the cats from the Christiana farm.

"Most of the cats couldn't be handled or treated," Helton said, "they were so stressed from captivity and lack of human contact. They were suffering at the trailer and they would have suffered at the shelter."

Helton said that tests on the surviving cats were negative for feline leukemia and feline immune virus.

"So hopefully they can be adopted out eventually," Helton said.

Darley said that she was unsure how many cats still remain at the farm.

"You really can't even see them all," Darley said, "We have stepped on them hiding in the grass of the enclosure. It's like walking through a dove field; you never know what's going to pop out."

The cats and the dog are being housed at the animal shelter until the court case is resolved. Darley said that Davis has not called to check on his pets in the last week and a half and has not been allowed to visit them at the shelter.

"He did want us to send the cats we euthanized to a state lab to be tested to determine why they died," Darley said.

Davis and his late wife, Mary Reeves Davis, lived in east Nashville until 1996 when Mrs. Davis, the widow of the late country music singer "Gentleman" Jim Reeves, was removed from the home by Adult Protective Services and placed in a Murfreesboro nursing home. She died four years ago.

Darley said that Davis told her that he and his wife had been trying to breed bob-tailed cats and that he continued to try to breed the cats. Helton confirmed that many of the cats did have short tails.

Darley said that she hoped that the court will not return the animals to Davis.

"We'd like him not to own any more animals in the future," Darley said, "unless he gets them spayed or neutered."

Update posted on Mar 19, 2004 - 10:05PM

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	Nashville Tennessean
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Hoarding - 38 cats seized, 114 found in freezerMurfreesboro, TN (US)

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Hoarding - 38 cats seized, 114 found in freezer
Murfreesboro, TN (US)