Hoarding - 50 birds and one dog found dead
Lodi, CA (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Aug 31, 2004
County: San Joaquin
Disposition: Not Charged
Abuser names unreleased
At least 50 dead birds and a dog, also deceased, were discovered inside the home of a former Lodi Police Department employee Tuesday night. Police and city officials said it was one of the most disgusting cases they've ever seen.
"It was indescribable," Lt. Gary Benincasa said more than once. "There was a tremendous amount of household items -- furniture, cages," he added.
Initial reports indicated that the dog could have been dead since March or April, said Community Improvement Manager Joseph Wood.
Police were initially called to the Daisy Avenue home when a neighbor reported seeing a dead bird in the window, Benincasa said.
Officers, "worried that there might be animals, or somebody, in crisis," then went inside the home, he said.
Animal control officers, community improvement employees and detectives were soon called in.
By Wednesday afternoon, there had been no arrests and the case was still under investigation, Benincasa said.
How the birds, most of them pigeons, died was still unknown. It did not appear, however, that the animals went in the home on their own.
"The owner had them in there. For what reason, I don't know," Benincasa said.
The home owner was contacted, and he was cooperating with city officials, Wood said. The home had been rented to the same tenant for the past 15 years, and the owner had no idea anything was wrong, Wood said.
The Community Improvement Department has been called to the home in the past, but only for vehicle abatement issues, Wood said.
The home has now been declared uninhabitable.
Police were still investigating the case, and they were waiting to get a statement from the tenant, Benincasa said.
The resident is a former non-sworn police employee who left the department at least a year ago, said Chief Jerry Adams. She was not fired, he said. References« CA State Animal Cruelty Map
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