Hoarding - dogs, cats, some dead Church Hill, TN (US) Incident Date: Tuesday, Dec 31, 1996 County: Hawkins Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Alleged: Wanda Marie Morgan

Case ID: 6774 Classification: Hoarding, Neglect / Abandonment Animal: cat, dog (non pit-bull), cow View more cases in TN (US) Login to Watch this Case

University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Agent Tom Bundy reported that in 1997, he received a tip that Morgan possessed a steer that was living in poor conditions at the farm in Hawkins County. "I visited the site," said Bundy, "and found that the steer was getting an adequate amount of hay (poor quality) and little else." He added that it could be considered to be on maintenance rations and that the area the steer was living in was dirty and standing in water.

The caller who tipped Bundy off to the situation also reported that a large number of dogs and cats were confined at the location. He said, "My jurisdiction officially ended with looking at the steer, but as a concerned citizen, I could not help but see the appalling and deplorable conditions under which the many dogs and cats she had were housed and tended." Bundy continued, "I returned to town and contacted Karen Nowell, who was the director of the Hawkins County Humane Society. Ms. Nowell, another lady and myself returned to the scene" Bundy said that when they arrived, they discovered the most filthy conditions imaginable for animals to live in.
He reported that most were in cages that appeared to have never been cleaned and they were open, exposing the animals to all the elements. "There were several dead carcasses that had been presumably removed from the cages and left on the roof of the cages," the UT agent said.
"Some dogs were running around loose. Some cages contained extremely sick animals, dead animals and one had a litter of puppies in it about six weeks old along with several other dogs," he stated.

Bundy added that some of the dogs were stored in cages off the ground and were covered by sheets of black plastic. "These seemed to be extremely vicious," said Bundy. Bundy reported that the sanitation of the site was extremely bad, " creating a very unhealthy and uncomfortable condition that could breed all types of insects, disease, fungi and other problems which could go through the whole compound easily." After the visit, Nowell contacted the Sheriff�s Department. She and a deputy returned to the site and instructed Morgan to clean the premises and get rid of some of the animals.

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References

The Rogersville Review - January 28, 2000

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