Pet Cruelty Accusations Startle Upscale Enclave

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/20/nyregion/20cats.html?ex=1345262400&en=29b961dec079580d&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

After spending the better part of two decades knocking on more doors than most people will in a lifetime, Fred Ferguson, a delivery driver with DHL Worldwide Express, has seen his share of sights strange and unpleasant.

But what Mr. Ferguson witnessed as he peered through the glass door of a colonial style home here in one of New Jersey’s most exclusive towns the other day left him groping for adjectives: a handful of cats and dogs, fur matted and unkempt, walking aimlessly amid piles of animal feces that in parts of the house was nearly knee high.

“What’s a worse word than ‘disgusting’?” Mr. Ferguson, 40, asked. “I didn’t know if somebody was dead in the house.”

Not somebody, but something: Twenty-three pets were decomposing inside, some so badly that the authorities could not tell whether they were cat or dog. And the live animals Mr. Ferguson saw were among more than 100 dogs and cats that the authorities said had been neglected for years by an upper-middle-class couple here in a home valued at $2.4 million.

but they must be sick.

1. They truly believe in animal rescue but just got in over their heads.

2. They believe that since it's their property they can have a many pets as they want.

3. These people tried doing the right thing for the wrong reasons with no thought to the animals needs.

4. Maybe they just didn't give a damn.

If they are sick, then Michael Vick should be able to use the same defense!!!!!

By the way I don't feel sorry for the people involved, because I believe that they knew better, the animals have my sympathy.

On Edit:

'Now, the couple — Philip Tamis, a securities broker at Merrill Lynch, and his wife, Cynthia Stewart, who ran her own businesses — face animal cruelty charges, and some experts say the scale of the neglect is among the worst in the state in memory.

Mr. Tamis, 66, and Ms. Stewart, 49, had recently experienced severe financial troubles. The authorities say their home on Burning Hollow Road, where the animals were found in practically every room, including the basement, is the subject of foreclosure proceedings. Court records show that Mr. Tamis filed for bankruptcy protection in 1997 and 2005; the latter case was closed last month.

The investigation is continuing, but one police theory is that the couple might have grown so despondent over money that they were unable to care for the stray animals they had been taking in for several years and became oblivious to the condition of their home.'


Well it looks like depression brought on by financial troubles, so maybe they were 'sick'.

sick, as in mentally ill?

1. sane people realize when a situation gets out of hand and take steps to remedy it. not-sane people may not realize such, or may not know how to solve the problem, or may not be able to ask for help.
2. When I say 'sick' I include depression, because depression is not wellness.
3. Even if they just didn't give a damn, it's incredibly unhealthy ... sickening, to live in such squalor.

With decomposing animals and knee-high piles of feces in a foreclosed house? Talk about Hell on Earth.

And I think this is just the beginning of these kinds of stories. Stay tuned for millionaires sleeping over steam grates.

forms, but to destroy a $2.4 million home and neglect 100's of animals, takes the breath away.

after falling on hard times...but OMG-- I have seen people do this kind of deliberate house neglect out of anger, but at the expense of 100 cats and dogs (!?!) No words are adequate to express.

SERIOUS mental problems. SERIOUS. Both of them.