50 dead animals found in cages in abandoned home

The rotting remains of about 50 dogs, cats, guinea pigs, hamsters and ferrets were discovered in a Barnegat house today, officials said.

A locksmith sent by the bank that had foreclosed on the house found the decaying remains when he arrived to change the locks and immediately contacted the police.

"They were piles of bones and fur," said Matt Stanton, a spokesman for the state Society for the Prevention of Cruelty for Animals. "The dogs just disintegrated."

Most of the remains were found in locked cages throughout the one-story home, which officials described as fully furnished, with garbage and fecal matter strewn throughout.

Read more here...

UPDATE
A South Jersey husband and wife were released on $25,000 bail each yesterday after they were arrested and charged in the deaths of dozens of house pets found at the Jersey Shore.

Matthew R. and Amanda Teymant own the unoccupied townhouse on Potomac Circle in Barnegat, N.J., where police found the skeletal remains of 64 animals Monday.

"The only things alive in that house were the flies and the maggots," Stanton said.

Read more here...

Hundreds of animals found in home, including 89 frozen ferrets

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Authorities say they removed nearly 200 animals from a Virginia Beach home, including 89 frozen ferret carcasses.

Police spokeswoman Margie Long says animal control agents found more than 100 live ferrets, a dog, a bird and three cats, most of them suffering from dehydration and malnutrition. Long said the frozen bodies of 89 ferrets, a cat, a rat and an otter were discovered in freezers in the house and garage.

Sixty-one of the live ferrets had to be euthanized because of poor health.