Two Pennsylvania dad and mom have been charged after police and humane officers discovered their teen son residing in an uninhabitable home with practically 80 animals.
James and Kathleen Chaney had been charged Friday with endangering the welfare of a kid and a number of other counts of animal cruelty after officers had been referred to as to a Westmoreland County home in August.
Their 14-year-old son was residing in circumstances police described as “deplorable,” in line with a prison criticism obtained by HuffPost. Animal rescue staff took 46 dogs, 23 cats, 5 guinea pigs, a dove, a ferret and a chinchilla from the home.
Photographs of the Chaneys’ home taken by a volunteer for an animal rescue group.
According to the criticism, Cassie Wilson, a volunteerhumane officer with the nonprofit rescue group All but Furgotten, noticed a number of animals, some lacking fur, exterior the Chaneys’ home residing in filth.
Wilson reported that as she received nearer and will see into the home, she found that the inside was coated in urine, feces and fly traps that had been stuffed with lifeless flies. The Chaneys’ 14-year-old son, recognized as “LC,” was additionally on the home.
Wilson instructed HuffPost that “everybody going in there was just in complete shock.”
A police officerand little one service caseworker who had been greeted by LC described the teenager as “nervous,” having “disheveled” hair and garments, and smelling of urine and feces.
Areas of the Chaneys’ home had been photographed as animal welfare staff searched the property.
Kathleen Chaney allegedly instructed police and humane officers that LC was her son and that he lived contained in the home. She mentioned she and her husband, James Chaney, cared for the animals on the property, in line with the criticism.
Kathleen Chaney was at work when police referred to as to say they had been serving the search warrant, however she refused to come back home, according to CBS News. Court paperwork point out James Chaney lived in one other city.
The boy was faraway from the home, Wilson instructed HuffPost, and the animal rescue operation started, which took hours. There had been extra animals round “every corner,” she mentioned, and “once the house was clear, we went outside and found more animals.”
In the criticism, police described every room of the home as being lined in cobwebs, mildew and waste, including that the odor of urine was so unhealthy that one officer needed to go away a number of occasions and return.
Pets rescued from the home had been documented by Ninth Life Rescue Center in Pennsylvania, which assisted with adoptions.
According to police, the home had no operating water or meals for the 14-year-old to “safely” eat.
Jenn Johnson, president of Ninth Life Rescue Center, who assisted within the rescue of the animals,mentioned volunteers and officers discovered a number of lifeless animals contained in the home.
Police famous within the prison criticism that they discovered a “rotting carcass” of a long-dead canine.
“There were feces and urine covering the house,” Johnson instructed HuffPost. “Animals in cages locked in bedrooms. There was a deceased dog laying in the bathroom, chickens that were dead in a pen outside ― it was a rough day.”
The surviving dogs and cats had been affected by critical medical circumstances, and lots of didn’t have access to water or meals.
One of the dogs had a needle caught in its stomach and one other canine was affected by a ruptured uterus, in line with the criticism.
Two of the rescued cats that had been adopted from Ninth Life Rescue Center.
The 14-year-old boywas taken into a short lived residing scenario instantly following the rescue, and themajority of the surviving animals have been medically handled and adopted, Johnson instructed HuffPost. However, she added that some animals are nonetheless present process surgical procedures and want “ongoing support.”
No legal professional was listed for the 2 dad and mom, and county inmate information didn’t present them as having been booked or taken into custody as of Wednesday. Penn Township police didn’t instantly reply to HuffPost’s request for data.
Both Johnson and Wilson instructed HuffPost that large-scale animal rescue instances have change into extra widespread in recent years, making it more and more troublesome for nonprofits like theirs to offer fast medical care. The rescuers mentioned their organizations are nonetheless financially recovering from the rescue months later.
