A mother and her two daughters were
arrested after they were found living with more than 80 dead animals
which included dogs, cats, birds, ferrets and even baby deer.
Rebecca
Keith, 58, and her daughters, Amanda Keith, 33, and Sara Keith, 31, of
Laurens, South Carolina, were arrested at the home they were renting
after police made the gruesome discovery on Thursday. Some of the animals had been dead since October. They were found wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator, freezer, sink and other areas of the home.
Several dogs were found running around
on the property, and a pair of horses were found in poor condition and
transported to a local rescue farm.
The three were charged with ill treatment of animals and failure to bury animals properly. The
sickening scene was only discovered when the Keiths stopped paying
their rent and police were serving them with an eviction notice. Owner of the house Jason English accompanied them and when they smelled a foul odor they entered the home.
Jason told
WSPA that
there were feces all over the floor, flies and maggots all over the
fridge and freezer, a cat's carcass in the home and other carcasses
outside in the yard. He said he is still having nightmares about what he found and is responsible for the cleanup.
He told
WYFF4: 'When
we came to clean out the kitchen, there was a dead bird and it was half
rotten. Inside the freezer, unwrapped, unprotected laying next to their
own food were ducks, a baby deer, hatchlings - cups with dozens of baby
chickens in it - inside the room they had ferrets.'
When
the TV station spoke to the Keiths about why they kept the dead animals
in the home, they said they were like family and did not want to say
goodbye to them.
'I guess you could say they're like
family,' Amanda Keith said. 'We didn't want to leave them behind. We've
already had to leave so many behind.
'Every
time we moved, we thought we'd stay and we could bury them and certain
ones we thought we could cremate. It's like one thing led to another and
we never could.'
They claimed the local vet told them it was OK to keep animals in the freezer. This
is not the first time the family have been cited for animal cruelty. In
2006 investigators seized dozens of dogs from their home after it
caught fire and burned down.
