KNOXVILLE, TN (CBS) - Tennessee officials raid an animal hoarder's home, finding a sad and disturbing mess.
Cpt. Robert Hubbs with Animal Control says, "The worst I've seen as far as stink and concentration of ammonia and concentration of animal feces it's pretty bad."
More than a dozen dead and decaying cats surrounded by ankle-high feces. Inside the unassuming home, some 70 cats, six or seven dogs and one woman were living among an odor so strong you could smell it from the street. Hubbs says, "It's a health risk for our officers, that's why we had to get the hazmat team to come out because of the air quality inside the home."
Animal Control officers spent hours bringing the animals out; so many of them, they needed a horse trailer. One neighbor says, "To have that many animals in her house and part of them dead it's really sad. I hate it we live in this neighborhood we live right beside them. I hate to hear that."
Neighbors never thought that inside the home that sits on a well-manicured lawn, a woman lived in such unhealthy conditions. The neighbor says, "This just goes to show you never know what could happen in your own backyard."
Officers say this happens everywhere no matter how much or how little money the person has. Hubbs says, "It's surprising, but yet on the other side of it...we see that it happens all over Knox Co."