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Dozens Of Animals Removed From 'Hoarding-Type Conditions' In Stanton Mobile Home

STANTON (CBS) — Dozens of animals, including dogs, cats, chickens, lizards, a raccoon and a crow, have been removed from a mobile home in Stanton where they were living with their owner in deplorable conditions.

An anonymous call led Orange County Animal Care officers to the Beach East Mobile Home Estates in Stanton Wednesday. The caller told dispatchers that a woman in her 40s was keeping pets and other living creatures in her mobile home, Animal Care Sgt. Kyle Werner said.

Officers found the mobile home teeming with animals and covered in feces and urine. They had to put on respirators in order to remove eight dogs, 18 cats, two chickens, four rabbits, several mice and reptiles, a raccoon and a crow, Werner said. Two dead opossums were also found in an outside trash bin.

The woman and her animals were living in "hoarding-type conditions" inside the mobile home, with "a lot of fecal matter, urine , a strong smell of ammonia." Orange County sheriff's deputies were called to check on the woman's health.

"Our initial concern was mostly for her welfare," Werner said.

The parents of the woman, whose name was not released, drove her from the scene after Stanton building officials red-tagged the trailer, Werner said.

The animals will remain impounded until an investigation is completed.

"They are going to be taken to OC Animal Care, evaluated and treated as needed by our veterinarian on staff. They are still technically her property at this point," Werner said. "If she is charged with animal cruelty, we will go from there."

(©2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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