Evicted renters leave behind dozens of dogs

CALIFORNIA -- An eviction at a Jurupa Valley rental home took a strange turn when workers discovered that the house contained at least 30 Chihuahua-mix dogs, including a mother giving birth to about six puppies.

 

 

“You could smell the stench and hear all the … barking,” recalled 29-year-old Jerry Lester Jr., whose family runs a Riverside general contracting firm that handles many such evictions and re-modelings.

 

“This is the worst I’ve seen.”

About 20 tiny dogs were penned up in the kitchen when Lester and a deputy sheriff arrived about noon Wednesday, June 12, at the aging single-story rental along the 5500 block of Tilton Avenue, a block north of Flabob Airport.

The sink was full of dirty dishes. An empty dog food storage container was lying in the middle of the living room. And dogs were barking and scrambling through the rest of the urine- and feces-littered three bedroom, one bath house -- where one of the animals was giving birth in a closet.

 

The renters had left. The deputy sheriff chased off a woman who was sleeping in the detached garage, Lester said. And animal control authorities were summoned. They provided food for the dogs and planned to move them to the county shelter Thursday.

(Press Enterprise - June 12, 2013)