| |
Hoarding 61 dogs and 7 cats |
La Grange, KY Oldham County |
June 24, 2002 |
| Hoarding 54 dogs and cats |
Jefferson County, KY |
June 2002 |
Coke was initially charged
with not having a kennel license and inhumane treatment of animals. Kentucky
law states a kennel license is required if there are more than 10 dogs in
a home. In May 2003 Coke was awaiting sentencing for 65 counts of violating
an animal control ordinance in Oldham County.
61 dogs and 7 cats were removed
from their Circleview Drive home on June 24th.
Another 54 dogs and cats were removed from their other home on Westboro Rd in Jefferson Country. Several birds and
rabbits were not removed from the Westboro Rd home
because there outside living conditions were satisfactory at the time of the
confiscation.
All the animals were spayed or neutered and had food water and their rabies shots. “It was other living conditions that led to the removal of the animals from the home stated Animal Control Director Kim Likens. “The cat boxes were piled high with feces and feces was wall to wall”.
Some of the animals
were kept upstairs where the temperature reached more than 100 degrees at
times because there wasn’t air conditioning.
On May 7, 2003, Coke was sentenced to 65 days in jail and ordered to pay a fine of $32,500 for the case in Oldham County.
More than half of the animals have already been adopted. The remaining animals were sent to people arranged through Coke’s attorney. The animals are not allowed to return to Cokes under the arrangement.
Coke’s attorney, Jody Curry, has filed an appeal on the grounds that District Judge Jerry Crosby did not define inhumane treatment in his instructions to the jury and that there was not enough evidence to support the verdict of the findings of the jury.
In August 2002, a jury was not able to come up with a verdict in the Jefferson County case. The case is to be retried in September.
Animal control had testified that the floors of the home were saturated in urine and fecal matter. The ammonia smell kept burning their eyes. The dog’s tails were so matted that the tails were stuck to their legs. When the animals were cleaned up and shaved, roach carcasses and eggs were found in the fur.
References:
The Louisville Channel
The Oldham Era
The Louisville Courier Journal