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Workers treat some of the more than 100 dogs discovered in a Howell, N.J. home.(Photo: Andrew Ford, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, Neptune, N.J.)
HOWELL, N.J. – More than 200<span style="color: Red;">*</span>dogs -- including at least one giving birth -- were rescued from deplorable conditions inside a bi-level home in what authorities are calling<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"an extreme hoarding situation," authorities said.
"Most of these dogs have never seen the outside of their house before," said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Ross Licitra, chief law enforcement officer for the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In all, 276 dogs<span style="color: Red;">*</span>were<span style="color: Red;">*</span>found inside the 1880-square-foot home, officials said.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Many were located on book shelves and makeshift platforms;<span style="color: Red;">*</span>some were even inside the walls.
"This is actually the worst hoarding case that we've ever experienced<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ever here in the history of Monmouth County," he said.
He said most of the animals were in "fair" condition and authorities didn't find any dead dogs. <span style="color: Red;">*</span>However, some of the animals were taken to get emergency veterinary care; few of the dogs received oxygen at the scene.
Licitra stressed the residents of the home,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Charlene and Joseph Hendricks, were cooperating with authorities. <span style="color: Red;">*</span>The couple told authorities that they<span style="color: Red;">*</span>started three<span style="color: Red;">*</span>years ago with eight<span style="color: Red;">*</span>dogs. The dogs reproduced from there.
"They're just not stopping it," he said. "I think it's just completely uncontrolled."
As authorities were packing up and leaving, a weary-looking Joseph and Charlene Hendricks emerged from the house and walked down the driveway. <span style="color: Red;">*</span>When approached by an Asbury Park Press reporter, Joseph Hendricks asked, "Could you trim it down and not give us so much attention?<span style="color: Red;">*</span>We're not bad people."
When asked to explain how this happened, Hendricks replied, "It's more than you think."
With that, the couple returned to the house.
Earlier in the day, acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni responded to the scene, and said criminal charges would hinge on the condition of the dogs. Dead or extremely malnourished dogs could warrant indictable offenses.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The situation may only warrant a municipal court<span style="color: Red;">*</span>disorderly persons charge<span style="color: Red;">*</span>or possibly no charges at all.
"It really depends on the facts and circumstances," he said.
A rescued dog receives oxygen in Howell.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Andrew Ford,)
Officials from the SPCA, Associated Humane Society of Tinton Falls, St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center, township police, and the county sheriff's office,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>health department and hazmat team responded to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the house on Bennett Road, Licitra said. Authorities<span style="color: Red;">*</span>set up a triage area to care for and vaccinate the dogs before they were taken to shelters. They were able to vaccinate about 80 dogs at the scene before they ran out of supplies.
Dozens of workers in hazmat suits pulled out dozens of dogs, including handfuls of puppies, of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>several different breeds, including<span style="color: Red;">*</span>pugs, chihuahuas and Yorkshire terriers.
As workers opened the front door to re-enter the house to remove more dogs, barking could be heard from inside. Some of the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>hazmat workers put on ventilators and air tanks, similar to what firefighters wear, before entering the house. <span style="color: Red;">*</span>Urine and feces were on the floor, and holes were torn through walls.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>A foul odor permeated the air.
Sheriff<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Shaun Golden said firefighters were using thermal imaging equipment to search for animals in cracks or crevices in the home.
"It’s a huge undertaking,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Licitra said of the effort to remove the animals. "Everybody is trying to get this under control."
Conditions in the house are "deplorable,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Licitra said.
"Think about a house with 100 dogs living in it,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he said, shortly after<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the dog removal began.
The situation was discovered about 6 p.m. Thursday after an animal control officer was called to the location to chase down a dog that got loose, the chief said. The officer, with the Associated Humane Society, suspected more was going on, eventually made contact with the owners of the house and then contacted the SPCA, Licitra said.
"They called us, and this is what we’ve discovered,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he said.
Some rescuers suffered minor injuries: cuts, bruises, respiratory issues, and heat exhaustion. They were treated at the scene.
Authorities started removing dogs about 9:30 Friday morning.
Across the street,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Suzanne DeGrande, 60, watched from her front steps.
"Nobody expected something like this," she said. "Nobody expected this type of thing. I'm like in shock. I haven't been able to get out of my driveway all day."
She said she could hear barking, and her husband once went to the home to complain about the smell, but they never expected there to be so many dogs.
"Apparently they both had a problem," she said. "I don't know how they lived in a house like that."
"I just hope that they both get the help they need," she added.
Those interested in adopting dogs or donating to the Monmouth County SPCA can visit the organization's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>website, or call 732-542-0040.
Other cases of animal hoarding in the New Jersey Shore area include:
- Forty dogs found caked in their own waste and living in squalor in a home on Spruce Street in Lakewood last year.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The resident of the home, identified as Laura Giacini, was fined $1,900 and banned from owning animals, SPCA officials said.
- More than 300 dead birds found in 2014 stacked from floor to ceiling in the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Little Silver home of Gretchen Rell, a former volunteer for the Monmouth County SPCA. Rell, 57 at the time, pleaded guilty to animal neglect and was placed on probation for five<span style="color: Red;">*</span>years.
- Sixty-eight<span style="color: Red;">*</span>assorted animals left to die in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>what SPCA officials described as "a maggot-infested tomb,'' when former Toms River police dispatcher Matthew Teymant and his wife, Amanda, fell behind on the mortgage on their Barnegat home and moved out in 2008. Matthew Teymant, then 30, pleaded guilty to animal cruelty in 2009, was placed on probation for five years and ordered to perform 250 hours of community service.
On Wednesday, law-enforcement officers with the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Monmouth County SPCA and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>federal agents rescued 17 pit bulls from a home in Asbury Park in what authorities said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was an interstate, dog-fighting ring. The animals were seized from Mario Atkinson, 40, of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>New Street,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Asbury Park, who was charged under a federal statute that makes<span style="color: Red;">*</span>it a felony to fight dogs or to possess them for dog-fighting. Authorities seized a total of 66 dogs, 44<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of them from locations in New Jersey, in multi-state raids in the dog-fighting investigation on Wednesday.
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