SAN ANTONIO – Friday's disturbing animal abuse case has some Animal Care Service investigators saying it's the worst they've ever seen. About 40 animals were found Friday at a near West Side home, but only half were alive.
KSAT had the only cameras there when the 23 living animals were taken away to be seen by a vet.
Their faces looked terrified. Their bodies were filthy, and many of their ribs were visible. Those were the lucky half of the animals found in the home on the 700 block of Rivas Street on the near West Side.
Fifteen to 20 of the dogs and cats found in cages were dead. There was also a dead cat found in the trash can outside the home. It was an emotional and overwhelming scene, even for seasoned investigators.
"There was an overwhelming smell of decay. At points, we were forced to crawl through the debris, and the amount that is inside is almost to the ceiling," said Officer Joel Skidmore, ACS Animal Cruelty Investigator.
He said ACS went to the home for the first time Thursday after reports about the smell. Neighbors told a KSAT crew the smell was terrible.
"On a scale of 1-10? A 10," said neighbor Daniel Baiza, who had just moved to the neighborhood a week ago.
ACS investigators left a notice Thursday that went unanswered. Every neighbor KSAT talked to said the man who lived at the home was sick and hasn't been around for about a month.
Skidmore came back Friday, saw the conditions, served a warrant, and immediately went in for the animals.
Many of the animals were malnourished and were put in the ACS trucks to be taken to the shelter immediately.
"There were some animals that, I believe, if we wouldn't have reacted as soon as we did, even another 24 hours there were some that would pass away," Skidmore said.
In just seconds, he could see signs of several medical conditions.
"There are obvious signs that our veterinarian is going to document, signs of being forced to live in their own feces, forced to live in their own urine, urine scalding, a lot of upper respiratory signs on the cats, a lot of neurological signs. They were very frantic inside their cages," Skidmore said.
There's now an open investigation into the person who lives or lived in the home. The next step is a civil court hearing where ACS will request custody of the animals.
"What our animal cruelty investigators are doing is documenting all the evidence we found today, evidence of the animals' conditions, any signs of neglect we found. It's all going to be put together in a case file. After the custody issue is resolved at Municipal Court, it can be turned over to the district attorney, who then has the ultimate decision if charges are accepted or not," Skidmore said.
Skidmore hopes the public will begin to call in animal abuse before it gets to this type of level.
"We ask that they call 311," he said. "You can remain anonymous. You just make a report for whatever you're seeing. If you see an animal in a cage that looks like it doesn't have water, or has been living in there for a long time. I urge people, call 311. Let it get to an officer. Let us make an assessment. Let us respond. Let us help the animals."