Foreclosed Home In Miserable Condition

October 29th, 2008

Foreclosure Pets

About 15,000 houses in the valley are victims to foreclosures. Animal welfare workers found one such foreclosed home in a miserable condition. On Wednesday afternoon, they witnessed a very rare scene. In the home situated on Whittier Court, dogs, cats and other pets were found in a sad state. The authorities even found about a hundred exotic cockroaches in the Lakes home. Lately, the neighbours had complained of a terrible stink coming from the house. The residents had been evicted on Wednesday afternoon. That is when the animal control authorities took charge. They said the situation was “downright disgusting.”

When a constable was handing out an eviction notice, he came across 15 dogs, eight cats, three turtles and 100 Madagascar cockroaches. This is the first time something of this sort has been found by the Lied Animal Shelter. Jim Seitz with the Animal Foundation said, “ It’s unusual. It looks like somebody abandoned a pet store.”

Sadly enough, these pets were left in deplorable conditions. Two dogs had to be put to sleep because they were in an extremely bad state. A Great Dane will be examined for a possible tumor. Furthermore, a sphinx cat is unwell. However, all the other pets are healthy and well fed. Neighbour Sam Khambekian said, “The smell would just kick in. You can’t sit outside. It’s just unbearable.”
One could not ignore the endless barking and stink coming from the house. “We’ve called animal control before on them for having too many dogs. I heard they had 11 dogs or what not and it smells all the time – every single day, horrible smells.”

It was even difficult for the animal control workers to enter the house owing to the strong stench of urine, feces and mould. At the Lied Animal Shelter, it took a few hours to process all the pets. Such a wide variety of animals together were never seen before.

Seitz and his co-workers are on the lookout for anyone who would possibly want to adopt these exotic insects. In Las Vegas, there are strict laws. You are only allowed to keep three dogs and three cats if you don’t have a fancier’s license. Otherwise, the animals are all kept in the shelter for 10 days.

Finally, animal control and the city need to decide if charges should be pressed against the former owners.