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Case ID: 9077

Classification: Hoarding

Animal: cat, rodent/small mammal (pet)

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1,300 rats found in apartment
Petaluma, CA (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, Jun 20, 2006
County: Sonoma

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged
Case Images: 5 files available

Alleged: Roger Alan Dier

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

The piercing odour of what they thought was cat urine alarmed neighbours in the California town of Petaluma.

But agents from the animal rescue league were shocked when they entered the apartment of a 67-year-old man and found 1,000 rats on June 20.

Twenty rats were running free in the one-room apartment, while the others - from newborns to adults - were held in 20 huge cages by the man, Roger Dier.

He was trying to keep males and females apart, but it was too much for him, an animal rescue official Nancee Tavares was quoted as saying. Dier�s bed was in the middle of the room, surrounded by a chaotic mixture of feed and kitty litter.

In addition to the rats, Dier had seven cats. Dier has been charged with animal abuse.

Seventy weak and ill rats were put to sleep, and the animal shelter was looking for a home for the others.

Case Updates

A man found living with more than 1,300 rats last year faces new charges after 37 rats and six cats were seized from the filthy cabin of his sailboat, animal control officers said.

Roger Dier of Petaluma was cited for cruelty to animals and confining animals in too small of a space following the discovery of the animals Thursday in the boat anchored on the Petaluma River.

"The cabin was covered with urine and feces," said Jeff Charter, a senior animal control officer.

When Charter asked Dier how he could live with such a smell, Dier said "I don't even notice it anymore," Charter said.

The animals all appeared to be in good condition and were taken to a shelter.

"I think I'm the victim of a vendetta and persecution," Dier said.

Dier bought the 29-foot sailboat after being evicted from his one-bedroom home. Authorities in June found the home covered with rat droppings and reeking of urine, with rats stacked in cages so overcrowded that many had missing eyes and limbs.

Source: Tri-City Herald - Jan 9, 2007
Update posted on Jan 9, 2007 - 11:30AM

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Rat lovers were furious Wednesday that a Petaluma animal shelter had euthanized more than 1,000 of the rodents taken last week from a man who had been hoarding the creatures inside his home.

Roger Dier, 67, was cited for misdemeanor animal cruelty last week after animal control officers found hordes of squealing rats inside his dingy one-bedroom house in Petaluma. Nancee Tavares, the city's Animal Services manager, had promised to find homes for as many rats as possible but admitted Wednesday that some 1,020 of them had to be put down.

"We euthanized all of the adults except the ones we have to keep on quarantine because they bit staff," she said. "They weren't social. I would call them feral. We found many with eyeballs missing, teeth growing into the opposite jaw, huge abscesses with open wounds. Some were starving."

Nine of the remaining rats have been adopted, four are available at the Rohnert Park animal shelter and 30 more are being taken to Los Angeles to be put up for adoption by the Rat and Mouse Club of America, Tavares said.

She said another 20 are being neutered and all the females are being held for 21 days so veterinarians can determine whether they are pregnant. In all, about 150 rats are either available or will be available for adoption. Rats are also commonly available in pet stores around the Bay Area.

Tavares said that potential adoptees who come to the shelter must be carefully screened. She said a woman who adopted rabbits from the shelter a year ago turned out to be a pet hoarder.

"We're not going to give them to another home that is just as bad," she said. "Our philosophy is not that any life is preferable to death. Quality of life counts."

The rat fanciers, she said, are not being rational.

"Everybody's saying you can't euthanize them and they all say they want to help, but very few can take any," she said. "We're not enjoying this, but frankly there aren't enough homes."

Meanwhile, Tavares said, animal control officers went back to Dier's home Wednesday to capture about two dozen more rats that were reportedly still scampering around his house.

She said Dier, a convicted armed robber who first gained notoriety when his home in Southern California was used as a hideout for two men later convicted in the 1963 plot to kidnap the son and namesake of Rat Pack leader Frank Sinatra, didn't seem like a bad guy, just a bit troubled.

"He's an intelligent man to talk to, but he smells like rat urine," Tavares said. "He told me that when he had only 100 of them he'd let them sleep with him in his bed. They'd get all in his shorts and stuff. And you can't potty train them, so you know they were urinating and defecating in there."

Source: SFGate - June 28, 2006
Update posted on Jun 28, 2006 - 5:59PM

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References

- June 26, 2006
- June 24, 2006
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1,300 rats found in apartmentPetaluma, CA (US)

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1,300 rats found in apartment
Petaluma, CA (US)