Animal Cruelty in Rochelle, IL

By Margaret Lyons in Miscellaneous on Oct 15, 2007 9:33PM

In a truly gruesome story, 153 cats, 97 dogs and 30 birds were rescued from a house in Rochelle, Ill. (about 80 miles west of here) this weekend. Today, Lee County State's Attorney Paul Whitcombe announced that the house also contained about 200 carcasses. Whitcombe told the Trib, "a lot [of the carcasses] had deteriorated to the point where it was hard to tell whether you were looking at two, three, four or 10." Uh, excuse us while we go cry for a million years. The rescued animals were taken to the TAILS Humane Society in DeKalb.

Barbara C. Monroe, 65, owns the house — which was condemned today, since it was, you know, filled with carcasses and feces — and is facing 10 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty and failure of owner's duty. The place was so over-run with animals that Monroe apparently slept in a sleeping bag on her porch. Now's when we remind you that
animal hoarding is an actual psychological disorder, but that doesn't really make this story go down any easier.

OK, we need a cute-pet chaser. Let's look for some cute local animals: doggie! Splashy doggie! Sleepy kitty! Dog who looks like Falcor! Hoooooly shit! Are you feeling better yet? My name is Pickle! Getting there? Almost? This video better do the trick. Aaah, ok. Much better.

Photo of one of the rescued dogs via the TAILS Humane Society.