ELKHART — Extremely poor. Terrible. Not livable. They are simple words police used to describe a complex situation in an Elkhart home, where officers found at least 12 people- — including four children — living, along with at least 45 different animals.

Police discovered the situation late Tuesday afternoon in the 500 block of West Jefferson Street after neighbors called to complain.

"The complaint was that there was a pit bull that was tied too close to the property line, and was not allowing access to the neighbors and the alley area," said Elkhart Police Corporal Dennis Russell, who serves as the department's Animal Control Officer.

When Russell looked inside, he found something much more shocking.

Filthy Finds

"There was eight adults in the house with four children, and what I would call terrible conditions. Feces, cockroaches, carpet saturated with animal urine, and a strong ammonia smell from the house itself," Russell said.

"I would call the conditions extremely poor," said Humane Society of Elkhart County Animal Control Officer Michael O'Hara. "There is insect infestation, trash, animals running loose.

"It's not a livable condition," added Russell.

But, there were 12 people living inside, along with dozens more animals. At least 35 of the animals are dogs. Most others are cats.

The first order of business, Russell said, was a call to Child Protective Services.

"All four children were removed from the house by CPS," said Russell. "Dogs don't deserve to sit in a crate. But, those children don't deserve to sit in a house with feces and urine smell."

All four children are now staying with relatives. Three of the eight tenants in the home were also arrested on unrelated outstanding warrants.

No other charges were filed, but Russell says it's possible both animal cruelty and child neglect charges will be pending.

So, how did it get this bad?

Searching For Answers

"That's a shocker!" exclaimed Susan Pittman, who lives next door to the home. "I would not believe there was that many dogs in that house. My grandson plays with the dogs outside there all the time, but it's only even just a few dogs. I've never seen any of the other dogs out."

Pittman says she never heard barking that went "beyond normal" for a few dogs, and says the animals she did see seemed well mannered, and well cared for.

"They looked like very healthy dogs," she said. "I just can't believe they had that many in there, and nobody in the neighborhood knew it."

It's unlikely, experts say, it was ever meant to go this far.

Spiraling Out Of Control

"These kind of things start with people who have a big heart, and it just spirals out of control very quickly and you end up with animals in poor conditions," O'Hara said.

That's exactly what happened, said two occupants of the home Tuesday night.

"The conditions of the house were ridiculous when we moved in," said Amy Bachman, whose children, ages 3, 7, and 10, were removed from the home by CPS. "This is not a puppy mill. We gave these animals a loving home. These are not just dogs. They're my babies."

"We've never sold one of these dogs that we've given away to a home. All we asked is that they took care of them. We never sold any of them," agreed Misty Seabolt, another resident of the home whose ten year old daughter was removed by CPS.

Seabolt says her mother and husband were two of the three people arrested on outstanding warrants, and remained in jail Tuesday night.

Caring For The Dogs

Most of the dogs are small breeds, Russell said.

"I think they're Pekingese, but there are some that look like mutts as well," he said.

Aside from fleas most are in fairly good health, said O'Hara, though several did show evidence of older, untreated injuries.

"It would appear they had not been to the vet for care in quite some time," said O'Hara.

29 of the dogs were taken by O'Hara and Russell to the Humane Society of Elkhart County, where they were inspected.

"Right now, we're seeing issues with fleas, which means we'll be spending quite a bit of funds to rid them of that so they don't carry that into the rest of the shelter," said Humane Society of Elkhart County Executive Director Anne Reel. "We're also checking them for things like Parvo Virus, and other health related issues."

At least six more dogs and all the cats, estimated at 6-8 by police, had to be left behind, as caged transport vehicles simply ran out of room.

But, that doesn't mean the dogs will be up for adoption quite yet. Only about half of the animals were "relinquished"— or given up — by their owners. Others are being held as evidence, or are still owned.

"If the animals are owner relinquished, and that's the catchy part right now, then the animals can be placed up for adoption. And, the easiest way to do it, rather than inundate us with phone calls, is just to check our website. As the animals are placed up for adoption, they will be listed," Reel said.

You can reach that website by clicking here

But, that process will take at least a week, Reel said. In the meantime, space will be a major issue.

"Last month, we had 745 animals come into this shelter. That's almost 4 times our capacity. When we see those huge numbers of animals, it's heartbreaking. Because, some of the animals come in such situations that we're not able to do anything for them," Reel said.

Because of that space issue, the Elkhart Humane Society will close all of its night drop boxes for the rest of the week.

A Safe Home

Police and child protective services agreed, the home they toured Tuesday was no place for four children to be growing up.

"This was a terrible condition, and I would, again, say it's not livable," Russell said.

Seabolt didn't argue otherwise.

"No. No," she repeated through tears, when asked if she disagreed with the agency's conclusion. "We had a lot of animals in there. We were trying to get rid of the animals."

"But, at the same time, like I explained to the CPS lady, what choice did I have?" continued Seabolt. "If I didn't have a place for my daughter, if I didn't have a roof over my head, I would have lost her. You know, you can't live out on the street with a child. So, what choice did I have?"

It wasn't supposed to be this way, said Bachman. When the group moved in together about a year ago, they only brought a "few" animals with them.

"I would say maybe five total, or six with all of us," she said.

But, none of those animals was registered with the city, vaccinated for rabies, spayed or neutered, Russell said.

Following those simple rules could have prevented all of the heartache, said Reel.

"The Humane Shelter does have a spay/neuter program called the STOP program that lower economic families can apply for. So, they should have reached out for some help," said Reel.

Moving On

Failing to reach out for help, Seabold says, is her one big regret.

"I do regret that we let it get that far out of control with the animals," she said.

But, both Seabolt and Bachman say their focus now is on something else.

"We want our human babies back. Not having the dogs is painful. But, not having my kids here is like someone's ripping my heart out," Bachman said.

"I'm moving," agreed Seabolt. "I've got until Thursday morning. That's when we go to court to get our children back. And, my first thing is getting a house to take my daughter to, and getting out of here."