ROYSE CITY – The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) of Texas, acting with Hunt County Constable Terry Jones, seized 57 dogs, 26 cats, five puppies and one kitten – all cruelly confined – from a Royse City property Wednesday.
The animals were all living inside a feces-filled, urine-soaked residence on the property.
According to an SPCA news release, most of the dogs were kept in feces and urine-filled crates in the house. One crate also contained dead mice. Several dogs were loose inside the house. Two dogs were found outside, one in a pen next to the residence and another kept in the backyard. One dog was found inside a car that was parked on the property.
The cats and kitten were kept in a separate room inside the house.
The SPCA measured the ammonia level in the residence to be 62 parts per million (ppm). As a point of reference, short term exposure to any ammonia level over 20 ppm or long term exposure to any level over 12 ppm can cause health problems in humans.
The dogs and cats appear to have varying health issues, including hair loss, flea infestation, and nose and eye discharge.
According to the SPCA, this wasn’t the first time they had seized animals from this property. They took 45 animals from it Oct. 15, 2010.
The SPCA and Jones were working with the animal owner for more than a year to bring the animals’ living conditions into compliance with Texas Health and Safety Code. The owner had worked to comply, and had surrendered twelve dogs to the SPCA in December of 2013, but the animals’ conditions had recently deteriorated to the point that the SPCA decided that it was in the animals’ best interest to remove them.
SPCA vehicles transported the animals to the Perry Animal Care Center in McKinney, where medical staff is examining them.
The name of the property owner and location will be revealed at a custody hearing, March 10, at 10 am, at the Hunt County Justice of the Peace, Pct. 1, Courthouse in Greenville, with Judge Wayne Money presiding.
The SPCA news release explained that, according to Texas state law, there isn’t anything that prevents people who have previously had animals seized civilly from them from starting over and acquiring more animals.
If the SPCA of Texas is awarded custody of the animals, they will be individually evaluated for potential adoption or placement on a case by case basis.
By J.J. Smith