Foreclosure horror: home filled with dead pets

[Liberal_in_LA]

Foreclosure horror: home filled with dead pets
By Laura L. Myers

SEATTLE | Mon Jan 24, 2011 8:01pm EST

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Police on Monday arrested an elderly woman and her son on charges of animal cruelty for the starvation deaths of over 30 pets, mostly cats, whose decayed carcasses were found in their foreclosed home north of Seattle.

The remains of 29 cats and two dogs, some of which had been dead for six months and were skeletonized, were discovered on Friday strewn about the vacant home littered with animal feces, empty beer cans and trash. Three surviving but emaciated cats also were found amid the squalor.

Dennis Taylor, the police chief of Granite Falls, Washington, 40 miles northeast of Seattle, said authorities were alerted by a worker who had gone to the house to change the locks and reported a "horrible odor" coming from inside.

"There were enough beer cans to build a whole car," Taylor said. "Hundreds and hundreds."

The police chief said the woman, who apparently slept for months in one room covered with pet feces, told him she had attempted to care for the animals, "but there's no evidence."

"For me, it's absolute neglect. They said they didn't have money, but they didn't have a reasonable explanation for the treatment of these animals. They apparently had enough for beer and cigarettes," Taylor told Reuters.

The former homeowner, Diane Cowling, 65, and her son, Michael Cowling, 36, were taken into custody at an apartment they had recently moved to in nearby Lake Stevens. Each was charged with 34 counts of felony animal cruelty, an offense punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70O07H20110125

[1620rock]

1. OMG

:cry:

[sasha031]

2. this is horrible, I hate this sort of thing

I glad they are being charged on multiple counts.
All those poor animals

[Raine]

3. I think people like this really do love animals

and start out with good intentions but they get overwhelmed because they can't turn animals away. This seems to happened over and over again.

[madrchsod]

4. ainmal cops had another dead dog and cat house on last week..

the husband took off and left dead animals and his wife was charged. they could`t charge the wife with cruelty because the animals were to decayed and covered with mold. they were wrapped up in cloth and stored in a refrigerator and a plastic tote.

[bullwinkle428]

5. Clearly, their problems were more than just financial.

I'm always heartbroken when I hear about this kind of abuse and neglect.