Jul 31, 2007 7:57 pm US/Central
Police: Dallas Chase Suspect Kept Dead Animals
by Brooke Richie
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
Investigators at the home of the Dallas man who was involved in Monday's high-speed chase with constables have made some gruesome discoveries there.
Police chased Ronald Teague for about an hour as he led them through several North Texas cities on Monday (
watch the police takedown of the man at the end of the chase here).
Teague told our CBS 11 News cameras that he was running because he was trying to take a sick cat to the veterinarian.
Tuesday investigators say they found a lot more than one sick cat at Teague's house.
They say they found dead cats and dogs piled up throughout the house. Many more were discovered in the refrigerator and freezer, sitting next to cartons of milk and ice cream.
"They were wrapped up in towels. Many of them were accompanied by handwritten notes, on yellow note paper, detailing when and where the animal was found," said Maura Davies, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Workers also removed 11 living dogs and 43 live cats and kittens from Teague's East Dallas home, which had feces and urine-soaked furniture, hundreds of empty cans of food and litter boxes full of feces, the SPCA of Texas said in a statement.
Teague's wife relinquished the living animals to Dallas Animal Services, who transferred them to the SPCA of Texas.
The animals will be evaluated, spayed and neutered, vaccinated, implanted with microchips and made available for adoption, the SPCA of Texas said.
There's no estimate on the number of dead animals in the house.
Dallas animal services made the discovery after Teague was arrested for a high-speed chase on Monday, but CBS 11 News received calls and e-mails from animal activists who say they knew what Teague was hiding.
Those activists now want to know why it took so long for someone to respond to their complaints. "I did not know what was in that house until 11 o'clock this morning," said Paul Curington with Dallas Animal Services.
Dallas Animal Services was conducting an investigation into Teague, they were working with the SPCA who just received a complaint a week ago.
Curington says they could not enter the home without permission. "The main thing that you have to understand is we got access to this property, which allowed us to take this action that we took today," he said.
Teague remains in jailed on a charge of evading detention.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
FEATURED SLIDESHOW: A Look Inside The House Of A Suspected Cat Collector
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