Police descend on filthy Williamsburg home; about 30 sick and abandoned animals seized

The scene wasn’t pretty on Rains Street in Williamsburg Thursday morning.

There were numerous pins with animals inside ranging from dogs to chickens. If the animals had water, it was stagnant in nearly all cases. Some were standing in their own feces. At least two of the dogs had bloody feces indicating the presence of disease.

Then police got to the really bad part, the interior of the residence.

"It is by far the worst place I have seen in the city limits," said Chief Wayne Bird. "I had no idea that all that stuff was in the back yard.

"The smell when we made entry through the door was so bad, we had to go back out to get respirators. It was unreal. I don’t know how anybody could live there."

In all, police and animal control officers seized about 30 animals, and the home’s residents, William Ashcraft and Mildred Riddle, will likely face criminal charges, Bird said.

"Over the past year, there has been an increasing problem with livestock at that residence at 210 Rains Street," Bird said.

Bird said that he personally has gone to the residence and served two city ordinance violations for having livestock, and the couple still hasn’t complied.

"When I was there, there was a little bit of livestock there, but I had no idea what was in that back yard," Bird said.

Bird said that city officials and members of the city council have received a growing number of complaints about the residence.

Animal control officers were contacted recently, and posted a notice on the door, but still weren’t able to make contact with the residents.

After watching the residence for about three days and not seeing anyone coming or going, Bird said that they contacted him thinking that the residents might be inside but not answering the door.

Police obtained a warrant Thursday morning to seize the animals, and officers from several agencies were on the scene for nearly two hours investigating and trying to catch animals.

Bird said that he will likely ask a grand jury to indict the residents for cruelty to animals, and that they face one count per animal.

Animals in bad shape

"One of the dogs was blind," Bird said. "One of them was eating a raw chicken. Another dog was standing in feces probably two or three inches deep. There was blood stool in some of the dog lots."

Officials seized a total of four dogs, two cats, four ducks, eight roosters and 12 hens.

Two or three cats and a few roosters were still loose near the residence that police were unable to catch.

State law dictates that the animals be held in quarantine for five days. If there is no response from the owners at that point, Bird said he will seek a court order to allow officials to either find them a new home or have the animals euthanized.

Bird said that the dogs will likely have to be euthanized, but that homes can probably be found for the other animals.

Interior of home

There were a few cats inside the home when police went inside, but Bird said that it was mostly garbage from the floor to the ceiling.

"In my opinion, it was not livable for any form of life. It was that bad," said Public Affairs Officer Shawn Jackson, one of the officers who went inside the home.

"We had respirators on and the smell knocked us down. The feces was pretty much pilled up everywhere from animals."

There is no running water to the home, and Bird said that he doesn’t think it had electricity hooked up either.

Police aren’t sure how long the residents had been gone, but neighbors said that they hadn’t seen them in about a month.
Bird said that the situation creates various health concerns ranging from the diseased dogs possibly getting out and biting someone to mosquito concerns in summer time due to the stagnated water.

There are also potential rat problems and the situation inside the home.

Other legal problems

Bird said he hasn’t spoken to prosecutors yet, but that it’s possible the property owner could be facing some type of facilitation charges if they knew about the live stock there.

"I’m sure that the owner and the person living there will be held accountable for the bill to clean that up," Bird said.

Williamsburg Fire Chief James Privett is expected to issue a "remedy notice" on the structure, Bird said.

"There is a civil process where the city can actually seize the property and pay to have it cleaned up," Bird said. "I think in turn the city actually bills the property owners or people that were living there for the cost of cleaning it up."

Bird said Health Department action is also possible as well as fines from the city for violation of ordinances.

Officials said that they don’t think the roosters were being bred for cockfighting largely because animals bred for that purposes are normally treated better.

Not in the job description

Bird noted that catching chickens isn’t something in the job description for officers.

"I did not learn how to catch chickens in the police academy," added Lt. Jason Caddell.

Jackson said that catching chickens and roosters is harder than it looks.

"You could probably tell which officers had spent a little bit of time on the farm growing up," he said.

"This is one of those things that officers don’t deal with on a regular basis, but every once and a while you stumble up on these situations and you have to act as an officer would."

No place in the city

"The bottom line is the city limits are just not the place for livestock," Bird said. "There is an ordinance against it in the city. It is something we really haven’t had a problem with in the city until recently."

Officials that took part in the investigation included: Bird, Jackson, Caddell, Detective Bobby Freeman, Officer Elijah Hunter, Whitley County Animal Control Officers Wayne Perkins and Wayne Wilson, Kentucky Emergency Management Regional

Director Jerry Rains, Williamsburg Fire Chief James Privett and Whitley County Health Department official Paul Lawson.

"Both animal control officers do a great job," Bird added.