Police descend on filthy Williamsburg home; about 30 sick and abandoned animals seized

Mark White

The scene wasn't pretty on Rains Street in Williamsburg Thursday morning.

There were numerous pins with animals inside ranging from dogs to chickens. If the animals had water, it was stagnant in nearly all cases. Some were standing in their own feces. At least two of the dogs had bloody feces indicating the presence of disease.

Then police got to the really bad part, the interior of the residence.

"It is by far the worst place I have seen in the city limits," said Chief Wayne Bird. "I had no idea that all that stuff was in the back yard.

"The smell when we made entry through the door was so bad, we had back out to get respirators. It was unreal. I don't know how anybody could live there."

Animals in bad shape

"One of the dogs was blind," Bird said. "One of them was eating a raw chicken. Another dog was standing in feces probably two or three inches deep. There was blood stool in some of the dog lots."

Officials seized a total of four dogs, two cats, four ducks, eight roosters and 12 hens.

Two or three cats and a few roosters were still loose near the residence that police were unable to catch.

Interior of home

There were a few cats inside the home when police went inside, but Bird said that it was mostly garbage from the floor to the ceiling.

"In my opinion, it was not livable for any form of life. It was that bad," said Public Affairs Officer Shawn Jackson, one of the officers who went inside the home.

"We had respirators on and the smell knocked us down. The feces was pretty much pilled up everywhere from animals."

There is no running water to the home, and Bird said that he doesn't think it had electricity hooked up either...." More

96 Starved Animals Seized In Cannon Co

By Dennis Ferrier

BRADYVILLE, Tenn. -- The U.S. Humane Association, the Cannon County Sherriff's Department and veterinarians were busy Tuesday making one of the biggest horse cruelty seizures in middle Tennessee history.

The Cannon County Sheriff's Office is obtaining a search-and-seizure warrant Tuesday to take up to 96 animals -- 84 horses, one mule, three roosters, four hens, two goats and two dogs -- from Charles E. Howland Jr.'s property.

The Humane Association, which has been working since Monday night, said the horses are in poor health and the farm is littered with 15 animal carcasses.

"What we're seeing is a pure case of animal cruelty and neglect," said Scotlund Haisley, Humane Society of the U.S. "I mean, we're talking about horses that are literally starving to death as we speak."

Twice as many animals than they expected were found..." More

84 horses confiscated from Cannon Co. farm & video

Starving animals seized in Abilene

By Daralyn Schoenewald

An Abilene man is under police investigation after authorities on Thursday seized more than 60 scrawny animals from his home in the 2100 block of Huckleberry Lane.

City of Abilene officials are seeking help from the public to feed the animals, most of which are being kept at the Abilene Animal Shelter, 925 S. 25th St.

In all, officials seized 54 fighting roosters and hens, eight horses -- including three foals and a pregnant mare -- a bull and a heifer from the man's property, said Aaron Vannoy, animal services manager for the city of Abilene.

Police did not identify the owner of the animals because he has yet to be charged with a crime, but Abilene Police Detective Ernest Moscarelli said an investigation into criminal animal cruelty is in its "beginning stages."... More & video

Photos by Victor Cristales Kerri Helm