North Carolina: Ammonia levels so high you could smell it from the street yet police refuse to charge cat hoarder and her three adult children who forced nearly 50 flea and mite covered pets to live in feces and urine-filled home

NORTH CAROLINA -- Wilson County animal control officers seized nearly four dozen cats from a home in the Black Creek community Monday after receiving complaints about a smell coming from the house.

Investigators don't plan to charge the cats' owner, Dee Gaudet Burke, of 312 Mercer St., saying the animals did not appear to be neglected. Deputies say 48 cats and a dog lived inside the house; 47 cats were seized.

 

 

 

 

"They were being fed and cared for very much," said Maj. Mickey Wilson, with the Wilson County Sheriff's Office animal enforcement unit. "The adult cats are very very healthy. They really loved the animals."

This is a huge mistake and shows how little law enforcement agencies understand about hoarding. Living in home full of feces, urine, pet hair, fleas, ammonia levels so high it could be smelled from the street, etc. with dozens upon dozens of animals is NOT healthy.

Let's get real - no one who hoards animals really ever spends a day in jail. If you don't want to criminally charge her, fine, but FORCE her and her "three adult children" (these are either children or her children's spouses: Raymond Burke, 37, Theresa Burke, 42, and Joe Burke, 40) who also lived there among the squalor to get long-term mental health counseling. The recidivism rate for hoarding - without mental health intervention - is 100%. They will do this again.

Wilson said animal enforcement received a complaint about the smell over the weekend and when they visited Monday, determined conditions were not sanitary.

"When we parked at the road, you could actually smell the odor from the house," Wilson said.

Inside, the home was covered in urine and feces.

Wilson said Dee Burke, who lives at the house with her three adult children, could have been forced to pay more than $300 in fines and court costs for each cat but agreed to surrender the animals, instead.

"They were very cooperative, and that's why were trying to work with them on that – trying to get everything cleaned up and help them," Wilson said.

 

 

None of the animals appeared to be abused, but they were covered in fleas and mites, he added. And their vaccinations were not up to date. Veterinarians are running further tests to look for any diseases.

Abuse comes in all forms. A child may not be beaten by its parents, but if it's covered in fleas and mites and living in a toilet with feces, urine and high ammonia levels inside a home - THAT'S ABUSE!

Wilson County animal enforcement and local rescue groups are working to find homes for as many of the cats as possible. Further medical tests will determine exactly how many are adoptable.

(WRAL - May 13, 2008)