A 23-year-old man has been charged with 61 counts of animal cruelty in connection with a raid on a house on Long Island this week that freed dozens of animals living in squalor, the SPCA said Friday.
Alan Warner, 23, is being held by Suffolk County police and will be arraigned Saturday, officials said.
SPCA chief Roy Gross said Warner was responsible for the 75 animals found living in deplorable conditions in the home in Shirley. Another 20 animals were found dead there.
Gross called this a case of apparent animal hoarding.
No charges have been filed against the elderly woman also living in the house who had been suffering from dementia.
Warner had been described as her caretaker.
Investigators found several kinds of animals living inside the home, including a calf, dogs, ducks, rabbits, chinchillas, cats, mice and dozens of birds. The goats and pig were in the yard.
Gross said pigeons were flying around the house when investigators went in. He said there was no food or water in the house.
