Nassau County SPCA Chief Gary Rogers said he has “never seen a situation as horrendous and hard as this for these poor animals”
Over 200 birds and other animals were found in the home of a 75-year-old veterinarian in New York.
The Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals executed a search warrant at Linda Pesek’s Long Island home on Thursday, Oct. 3, after a veterinarian technician reported to officials seeing the animals living in deplorable conditions, reports WNBC, News 12 Long Island, and New York Daily News.
Aerial footage obtained by WNBC showed workers in white hazmat suits entering the home, which was deemed unsafe due to the number of cages and garbage surrounding it. Exotic birds, parrots, tortoises, geese and cats were among the animals taken from the property.
The Nassau County SPCA “holds special authority as NYS peace officers to enforce NYS Agriculture & Markets Law and all other state and local humane laws,” per its website.
Nassau County SPCA Chief Gary Rogers told reporters outside the property that over 200 animals were found “in cages living in filth.”
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Stock image of birds
“It’s all garbage and furniture. It’s piled up. You can’t move around. Literally unsafe. You know, more than one or two people can be in there at a time to be able to get around in the house,” he said.
“There’s no way that a 75-year-old person, or even a 40-year-old person, or a 21-year-old person could care for this large amount of animals without help. And apparently, there was no help there,” he said, noting that the veterinarian was taken to the hospital for an evaluation and expected to be charged with animal cruelty.
“In my 44 years of doing animal crimes, I have never seen a situation as horrendous and hard as this for these poor animals, and these birds, really very intelligent, are living in a lifestyle that is far beyond. You can’t comprehend it. it’s hard,” he later added.
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Stock image of birds in a cage
On Friday, Oct. 3 officials returned to rescue more animals, and Pesek was arrested, reports News 12 Long Island.
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PEOPLE reached out to the Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals but did not immediately hear back.
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