Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Hell house: Pets live in torment among corpses


By JENNIFER BAIN and KATHIANNE BONIELLO

heir mouths were muzzled and wrapped in so much tape they couldn't breathe, bark or eat. Their fur was matted with filth and the house was crammed with so much trash, it hid the floor.

A Long Island mother and daughter were arrested yesterday after more than a dozen tortured dogs and cats were rescued from a filth-riddled Rockville Centre home that included more than two dozen decomposing animal remains, cops said.

PHOTOS: FACES OF HELL HOUSE

Judge Anna Anzalone teared up as prosecutors showed pictures of a dog skull with tape still visible on it, as well as the squalor in the small house.

Faith Ross, 54, a secretary, and Francesca Maselli, 24, a nursing-home aide, pleaded not guilty and were being held at the Nassau County Jail on more than $75,000 bail each on three felony animal-cruelty counts.

Hempstead town officials were tipped to the wretched conditions inside the seemingly sedate Montauk Avenue home when someone complained about the smell coming from the house.

When officials arrived, the dogs could be heard barking and there was a smell of gas, so Animal Control as well as National Grid were called in.

Inside, authorities said, they found a nightmare: 15 dehydrated, trembling animals covered in urine and feces, amid two feet of trash on every piece of flooring, and the rotting corpses of dozens more.

There were six Chihuahuas, three dachshunds, an English bulldog, a Yorkshire terrier, a Shih Tzu, a boxer and two cats among the survivors. Another pooch, a collie mix, was taken directly to an animal hospital for emergency care.

They also took several pounds of matted, dirt-encrusted fur from around the home. A new car in the driveway was packed with trash, grocery bags and cans of dog food.." More


Thank you to "T" for forwarding this story



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