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Children Found Living In ‘Deplorable’ Home Filled With Fleas, Feces, And Dead Animals, Police Say
Two of the young children had black eyes, according to Pennsylvania police.
In a case that Pennsylvania authorities are calling one of the worst instances of neglect they’ve ever encountered, multiple children and dozens of animals were removed from a home that was allegedly filled with sewage, feces, and dead animal carcasses.
State police visited the home in the Upper Oxford Township area to perform a welfare check on Tuesday, local NBC afilliate WGAL reports. It was a random passerby who spotted a child playing in the street near the home who thought to call the police, according to ABC station WPVI. But what authorities encountered at the home shocked them.
There were three young children, as well as an adult child, living with two adults in the home, State Police Corporal Robert Kirby said Wednesday, according to WPVI. Two of the young children had black eyes, and the house was filled with feces, insects, and animals both dead and malnourished, he said.
“Inside the residence there was approximately four inches of sewage in the basement, bugs, maggots, flies, fleas and feces all over the residence,” he said.
Officers discovered decomposing rabbits, dogs, a chicken, and a pig all left out in the open, and there may be other animals buried throughout the property, according to authorities.
“No child, no adult, no animal should be living in that house. That’s how bad it is,” Kirby said.
Walt Fenstermacher, senior director of operations for the Brandywine Vally SPCA, said that of the 25 living animals found on the property, there were eight dogs, eight cats, two snakes, two rats, two bearded dragons, one rabbit, one tarantula, and one pig, the Delaware News Journal reports.
Kirby, who told media outlets that they are working to get the house condemned, called the conditions there “deplorable,” according to the outlet.
The children have been taken out of the home and placed with other family members. Police said Wednesday that a child abuse investigation had already been launched before Tuesday’s call, and that investigation will continue, the paper reports.
A separate animal cruelty investigation is also underway. The adults in the home are expected to charged, per a report from PennLive.com.
