Dozens of animals found in filthy home

ESTANCIA, NM {KRQE} - Dozens and dozens of dogs, cats, snakes, rats. State police found all of that and more inside a home littered with waste.

They said the hoarder was even keeping dead animals in his freezer.

Police picked the man in his 60's up in Albuquerque Wednesday for a mental evaluation. When police went to his Estancia home tonight to check things out, they found a filthy zoo.

Sgt. Andy Baldridge with State Police said, “I've never seen anything quite like this before.”

Baldridge said it was a house of horrors.

“It's not even describable,” he said.

They found 22 dogs inside, there were also rats, snakes, gerbils, a duck and a lot of cats.

“We estimate that there are about 30 cats and the majority of them are living in the walls,” Baldridge said.
The man has a history of mental illness and neighbors say they've seen it first hand.

Lowell Clark, a neighbor said, “He (the man) goes around in the nude all the time and he's terrible with animals.”
Clark said he even saw the man drag a stubborn donkey with his van.

“He tied her on the back of his van and pulled her home, part the time she was laying down dragging and part the time she was standing up.” Clark said.

That donkey was seized in June, but charges against the man were dropped because of competency.
Police said the man had plenty of food for the animals, but Sgt. Baldridge said raw sewage, feces and disease mean a majority of the animals, “They are going to have to be euthanized as opposed to being able to save them.”

Police said he was keeping dead dogs in his freezer, but they don't know why.

He's at the veteran's hospital for evaluation. There is no word if he'll be charged.

Police say the man may not have even known all the animals he had.

They actually found a neighbor's dog that had been missing for a few weeks alive inside the man's home.