Aug 15, 2007 12:29 pm US/Eastern

85 Cats And Dogs, 23 Dead, Found In N.J. Mansion
Animals Living Among Thick Piles Of Feces; Bodies Found Wrapped In Shoeboxes May Have Been There For A Year

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_227094446.html

Jay Dow
Reporting

(CBS) SADDLE RIVER, N.J. Nearly 90 cats and dogs -- 23 of which were found dead -- were discovered inside a multi-million dollar Bergen County mansion, police say, and the owners of the property now face animal cruelty charges.

For weeks and possibly even months, Saddle River residents suspected something was wrong at 25 Burning Hollow Road, where the animals were found living in squalid conditions. "My dog Jake would get out once in a while, and I always found him over there by that house," says Connie Lasala, who lives near the house.

The bodies of the dead animals were found wrapped inside shoe boxes stacked in the house's 3-car garage, and ASPCA officials estimate they may have been there for up to a year.

Officials say 62 live cats and dogs were found roaming freely inside the house with piles of feces and pet food measured up to a foot deep in some areas. They were taken away by Animal Control officials for examination and will likely be put up for adoption in the future.

Authorities were brought to the scene after a deliveryman smelled a foul odor emanating from the house and noticed piles of feces after peering through the window.

The owners, whose identities have not been released, lived in the lavish house and face multiple animal cruelty charges.

"Typically an individual who collects large amounts of animals, in their hearts and minds they think they're being good to them. But at the same time, they're being very cruel by omission," says Antonio Gines of the Bergen Co. ASPCA.

Officials say they were forced to open up the doors and windows to air out the house. The smell was so foul, they also needed to bring in respirators so they could investigate while breathing fresh air.

The owners may have suffered from a disorder known as "animal hoarding," where people who are actually considered pet lovers take in large amounts of pets that need care, but don't have the resources to provide them with a proper and habitable living environment. Animal hoarders typically think they're helping the animals out, but in the end are actually doing far more harm than good.

"These people are animal lovers, and to be honest I think they just tried to care for too many animals, and it became overwhelming," says Bergen Co. ASPCA spokesman James Lagrosa. "It just got out of control."

Authorities estimate the home is valued at about $2.5 million and say it's now in foreclosure proceedings.

   

Odds say that house isn't worth $2.5 mil anymore.

Quoted: Odds say that house isn't worth $2.5 mil anymore.

I bet it don't smell like a million either

This is what happens when trailer trash wins the lottery.

Quoted: This is what happens when trailer trash wins the lottery.

I doubt it- sounds like inherited money. No clue about reality.

yup,

someone made it big from nothing.

they were probably used to living in a shit hole trailer before they made out big on something, most likely a low stake lottery win. Wife probably loved animals, and she brought 5 to the home, then 5 became 10, and so on.

Now the moneys all gone and they treated a nice big home as trash.

:/

More here:

Video: 23 Dead Dogs, Cats Found In N.J. Mansion


23 Dead Cats, Dogs Found In N.J. Mansion

POSTED: 7:27 am EDT August 15, 2007
UPDATED: 8:20 am EDT August 15, 2007


NEW YORK -- Animal welfare workers pulled 23 dead dogs and cats from a multimillion-dollar Saddle River house on Tuesday.

WNBC.com's Vivian Lee reported Wednesday that animal welfare workers rescued 68 other animals found roaming in the feces-filled rooms of the home.

The bodies of the dead animals were found sealed up in shoeboxes in the garage of the house. Officials estimate the animals had died more than a year ago.

Authorities said they are considering cruelty charges against the owners of the animals.

The house is owned by Cynthia Stewart, 49, and Philip Tamis, 66. They bought the property that the house is on for $525,000 in 1996, and built a home now assessed at $2.55 million. The house is in foreclosure proceedings, police said.


Looney tunes.

Fucking. Weird.

I like chinese food.

I think the best bet would be to burn it down and start over.  you can't fix that kind of thing.

Joelad...great album cover, saw that show at MSG 7/3/77.

I live about 20 minutes from this place. I'm sure they are part of PETA and are like sooo many of their liberal asshole wealthy neighbors, who 'love' animals and are anti-hunters. I'll be willing to bet that there is a Clinton / Gore sticker on one of their imported cars right next to a Corzine sticker. Don't get me started about these NJ assholes.

The correct term for that type of house is McMansion. All prefab overpriced developments for people who want to look the part and get in way over thier heads. F-them

the Goddard award and possibly the guy from the article?

http://www.bates.edu/x151647.xml

Philip Tamis '63

1963 that fits with the guys age i believe.

Breaking News

'Horror house' mansion hides dead pets

Dozens of animals found behind doors of feces-filled house

www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/2007/08/15/2007-08-15_horror_house_mansion_hides_dead_pets.html

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wednesday, August 15th 2007, 2:39 PM
     

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRENTON, N.J. - Authorities Wednesday were still looking for animals in a feces-ridden mansion in Saddle River, N.J., after removing at least 23 dead cats and dogs and rescuing dozens more pets.

"Behind a mansion door there's a horror house," said James Lagrosa, head of the Bergen County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "It was the worse I've ever seen in my eighteen years of doing this."

According to Lagrosa, a DHL delivery person alerted authorities Tuesday after he smelled a very strong odor coming from the home of Cynthia and Philip Tamis, and worried a body was decomposing inside; the delivery person also noticed through a window numerous animals running around the house.

When authorities arrived and could not find anyone home, Lagrosa said they entered the house and discovered the animals, pet food strewn around the floor and feces soiling every room in the house.

Authorities removed about 80 live cats and six dogs from the house, Lagrosa said; a kitten removed from the house died Wednesday morning. In the garage, he said they found 23 separate plastic bags that contained the remains of dead animals, some so decomposed that authorities could not tell what type of animal they were.

While authorities were removing the animals, Cynthia and Philip Tamis returned home and wanted to know what was going on, Lagrosa said.

A lawyer for the couple, Santo Bonanno, said the couple, who'd lived there for about eight years, had a long history of taking in sick and abandoned animals. But, he said, they were going through severe financial hardships after Cynthia Tamis's personnel business went bankrupt in 2003. The couple had taken out a number of loans to prop up the business, and were eventually forced to sell their home last Friday in a foreclosure auction for $2.6 million, Bonanno said.

"These are true animal lovers," Bonanno said.

The lawyer said animal welfare authorities visited the house two years ago after police, who were there to help Cynthia Tamis remove a large dog that died, became worried about the number of animals in the home. Bonanno said authorities determined the animals were being well-cared for: "Things just got out of hand ... She just fell apart."

Bonanno said the couple, who is currently staying at a motel, is cooperating with authorities, and Cynthia Tamis plans to meet with the prosecutor's office later Wednesday. He said she is also going to be evaluated for depression.

Lagrosa said he intends to file charges against the couple. Meanwhile, he said authorities are still removing animals from the house.

From the first article

Animal hoarders typically think they're helping the animals out, but in the end are actually doing far more harm than good.

In other words, they're just like leftists, and the interior of that house was a small-scale version of liberalism in action..

That's all the reporter needed to say.

am I the only one who hates most domesticated animals?

Quoted: I think the best bet would be to burn it down and start over.  you can't fix that kind of thing.

easy fix. pull carpet+pad, seal subfloor, prime and repaint everything, lay new carpet+pad, and nobody would ever know.

i bet ive seen apartments that were worse. alot of people just lock there animals up in one room while they are gone to work or whatever and that one room will be covered in shit and piss. and they leave it when they move out too.

Quoted: Odds say that house isn't worth $2.5 mil anymore.

turned in a $2.5 mil biohazard.

Wow. That's got to be a great place to live.

Quoted: Quoted: I think the best bet would be to burn it down and start over.  you can't fix that kind of thing. easy fix. pull carpet+pad, seal subfloor, prime and repaint everything, lay new carpet+pad, and nobody would ever know. i bet ive seen apartments that were worse. alot of people just lock there animals up in one room while they are gone to work or whatever and that one room will be covered in shit and piss. and they leave it when they move out too.

+1! Just ask Slumlord- where's he been lately, BTW?

Quoted: the Goddard award and possibly the guy from the article? http://www.bates.edu/x151647.xml Philip Tamis '63 1963 that fits with the guys age i believe.

Could this be him, then?





"Phil Tamis '63, Goddard winner in 1962, talks with Al."

www.bates.edu/x153023.xml?pos=7&nex=8

Eeeewwww.....

Neighbor Who Bought Feces-Filled New Jersey Mansion Wants Out of Deal
Saturday, August 25, 2007

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294610,00.html


Aug. 14: Employees of Tyco Animal Control remove crates with cats from a mansion in Saddle River, N.J.

SADDLE RIVER, N.J. —  A neighbor who bought a mansion in a foreclosure auction later found to be littered with the feces of the more than 100 cats and dogs living there wants out of the deal.

"When I bid on that house I was bidding on a home that I saw people living in. I saw people every day coming in and out of the house. I thought I was bidding on something habitable," Michael Acciardi, 47, told The Record of Bergen County for Saturday's newspapers.

Philip Tamis, 66, and his wife Cynthia, 49, have been charged with animal cruelty after authorities found the live animals -- along with the bodies of at least 23 dead animals decomposing inside their 3-car garage.

A DHL delivery man alerted authorities on Aug. 14 after smelling a horrible odor coming from the 20-room home and seeing animals scurrying around inside; the delivery man was worried someone had died.

Acciardi, who lives next door, paid $2.6 million for the house but never saw the interior. He was on vacation when police alerted him to the house's condition and went inside for the first time on Thursday.

"It was so bad inside that I became violently ill," Acciardi said. "Just the scent on my clothing. I had to go home and change."

Acciardi said he didn't become suspicious when Philip Tamis wouldn't let him in the house before the auction, saying the homeowner was a "private person."

Philip Tamis said the house was fine, Acciardi said.

Animal control officials said on Friday that they were still looking for animals inside the home.

Piles of feces were found in every room in the home, the two tubs in the master suite were covered in at least two inches of fecal matter, and pet food was littered around the house.

A lawyer for the couple, Santo Bonanno, has said the couple, who'd lived there for about eight years, had a long history of taking in sick and abandoned animals.

But, he said, they were going through severe financial hardships, were eventually forced to sell their home and "...things just got out of hand."

covert animal testing facility?  

Thats nothing I know of a woman in town who kept an inventory of ~300 cats in her house, I guess it was big enough and pricey enough to be a mansion.

She later built the cats a HUGE fucking house