148 Animals Seized From Home

FORT PAYNE, Ala. -- The DeKalb County Sheriff's Department has helped confiscate 148 animals from a home just across the line from Rising Fawn, Ga.

Officials said 127 of the animals were being kept inside.

Sheriff Jimmy Harris said his department got a call about an unattended house full of animals from the Dade County Sheriff's Department in Georgia on Tuesday. The house has a Georgia address, but actually is located just inside Alabama.

Harris the neighboring sheriff's department in Georgia called about the problem that apparently developed when the owner went out of town and left the care of the animals to family members, who in turn left and asked a friend to take care of them. The friend alerted the Georgia sheriff's office.

The sheriff’s department and the Georgia Department of Agriculture assisted in rounding up the live animals, which included 77 cats, 19 dogs, 50 guinea pigs and two rabbits. Harris said three dead animals were found inside the home.

The owner agreed to turn the animals over to an animal adoption center. Harris said no charged would be filed..."  More