Boy, 12, lived with 19 dogs, 15 cats, two rabbits, three quail, nine chickens and one duck

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Cats in the kitchen of the home in Newark, Delaware, which contained 19 dogs, 15 cats, two rabbits, three quail, nine chickens and one duck. Picture: New Castle County Police Department

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A CHILD was allegedly living with 19 dogs, 15 cats, two rabbits, three quail, nine chickens and one duck in a house.

The plight of the 12-year-old boy living in the menagerie led animal welfare officers to contact police to assist with a search warrant for the boy's home in Newark, Delaware, in the US.

The deplorable condition of a bedroom in the house in Newark, Delaware, where the child lived in a menagerie. Picture: New Castle Police Department

"When officers arrived and entered the home, they smelled a pungent odor of urine, which made it difficult to breath, emanating throughout the house and observed the residence to be in deplorable conditions," Colonel W. Scott McLaren, chief of New Castle County Police Department said in a statement.
Sandra Kelsch, 49, and her husband, Edward Kelsch, 48, were each charged with endangering the welfare of a child. They were released on $500 unsecured bail. Animal cruelty charges are pending against the couple by the Kent County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Sandra Kelsch, 49, and her husband, Edward Kelsch, 48, have been charged with endangering the welfare of a child, their 12-year-old son. Picture: New Castle County Police Department

SPCA animal control agents removed the pets - including 19 dogs, five cats, two rabbits, three quail, nine chickens and one duck, Whipple said. Another 10 cats that could not be caught were left behind and 28 more dogs were seized from the property.
The home was condemned as unfit to live in.
The couple’s 12-year-old son was taken to A.I. duPont Hospital for Children to be evaluated for any health problems. The boy was medically cleared and placed in the care of relatives,

Shows how amazing animals can be

Woman Saves Cat’s Life; Cat Returns
the Favor

By Caroline Golon

When Amy Jung of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin adopted two cats from a local shelter, she had no idea that, just hours later, the decision would save her life.

This incredible story was first reported by Samantha Hernandez of the Door County Advocate , earlier this month.

Jung wasn’t planning on coming home with a cat, let alone two cats that day. She and her son Ethan had stopped by the Door County Humane Society to play with the homeless felines.

But Pudding, a 21-pound orange and white cat, caught Jung’s attention. The two made a connection and Jung decided to adopt him. Pudding and another cat, Wimsy, were brought to the shelter together when their owner died a month earlier. Jung, not wanting to separate the two cats, adopted them both.

According to Jung, the pair of felines made themselves at home right away and all seemed well.

Until later that night when Jung, who has been diabetic since childhood, went into a diabetic seizure in her sleep.

That’s when the normally laid-back Pudding took action. Jumping on Jung’s chest, Pudding began to nudge and bite at her in an apparent attempt to rouse her. Jung said the heavy cat on top of her woke her long enough to call to her son for help.

When the sleeping Ethan did not hear his mother’s cries, Pudding raced into Ethan’s room and jumped on him, waking him up in time to get medical help for his mother.

Jung and her son are amazed and grateful to Pudding. “If something or someone hadn’t pulled me out of that, I wouldn’t be here,” Jung told the Door County Advocate.

Carrie Counihan, Door County Humane Society executive director, described the giant cat as very laid back and relaxed. To jump up on someone like he did to Jung was not his normal behavior, making it all the more believable that he knew something was amiss. "That, for me, makes the story really stand out," she told the Door County Advocate. "That he was sensing something and reacting to it."

At the suggestion of her doctor, Jung registered Pudding as a therapy cat. Pudding now sits by Jung’s side and meows if he senses her blood sugar may be low.