Sixty animals were put to sleep after they were found living in filthy conditions at a home on Wheeling Island.
Police were called out to the home over the weekend because neighbors were worried the owner was in trouble. When police arrived, they found the owner dead on the floor, along with dozens of animals and filth.
The Ohio County dog warden was called out to take the animals out of the home, and inspect them. Neighbors gathered to watch as the animals were taken to the shelter.
"I could see their ribs, you could see their hind bones, they couldn't even walk," said Floyd Yost, a neighbor who saw the animals. "They were hopping like rabbits."
Yost lives right behind the home and said he has complained about the smell of the animals in the past. He said the woman who lived at the home "didn't know any better," and said the Health Department is to blame.
The dog warden said he was shocked by the horrific conditions inside the home.
"The animals were just tied to here, there, stacked up here, stacked up on garbage there, buried under garbage here," said Doug McCroskey, the Ohio County dog warden. "It was pretty bad."
In all, 66 animals were inside the small house. They were living in garbage, feces and among other dead animals. The warden spent hours taking all the dogs, cats, birds and fish out of the home. Only six animals survived.
"Right now they're holding their own," said McCroskey. "But they're still weak, and we can only feed them certain amounts of food."
McCroskey said he's never seen animals in a worse situation in his life. Of the six dogs alive, two are close to death.
An autopsy is being performed on the woman who lived in the home to find out how she died. References | WTOV - April 4, 2006 |
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