article

The Press of Atlantic City
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
Section: Region
Edition: Atlantic
Page: C1

A RESCUE GONE WILD' / ANIMALS SEIZED FROM 'OVERWHELMED' FAMILY SHELTER
By BRIDGET MURPHY Staff Writer, (609) 272-7257
TEXT: There are fewer critters in the Rodriguez house today.

That's because on Monday the Atlantic County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, with the help of a court-ordered search warrant, seized about 113 animals from the family's home - where they run a private animal shelter.

The warrant was obtained by the SPCA's Nancy Beall, who said she visited Linda and Richard Rodriguez's Herschel Avenue home last week and saw animals that had not been given food or water, or had feces removed from their cages, for more than a week.
"This is happening because she's overwhelmed," Beall said of Linda Rodriguez. "You don't keep taking animals in when you can't handle them. This is a perfect example of a rescue gone wild."

Beall said officials were alerted to the conditions after an Atlantic County Humane Society employee went to donate a ferret to the Rodriguez's rescue shelter last week.

The animals seized included ferrets, iguanas, rabbits, flying squirrels, hedgehogs, roosters, guinea pigs, short-tailed possums, chinchillas, cockatiels and a parrot. There were also a few dead animals, including a dog and decomposing ferrets, which were stored in an old car parked in the driveway.

Last year the Rodriguez family started a ferret rescue operation, called Loving Ferrets Rescue and Exotic Animals, from their five-acre property. They obtained a license from the Department of Fish and Game that allows them to keep exotic animals, and before the seizure, most of the animals were kept in cages on a back sun porch.

"All of a sudden we found out how many animals didn't have homes. We'd go to trailer parks, and retrieve abandoned ferrets. Then we found out it was a lot more than ferrets, and we started taking in a lot more," Rodriguez said.

But she said it's been difficult keeping up with the animals' care lately because she's been working full time at Harrah's Atlantic City and caring for her mother, who has Alzheimer's disease. But she said she's taking an animal control course at Camden Community College and has received permission to scale back her hours.

"Anytime, I could start part time," Rodriguez said. "But now they took all my critters away. Now I'm going to go to court."

Samantha the wallaby, a small-sized kangaroo, sat in front of a grandfather clock in the family's living room on Monday afternoon. That was one animal the SPCA let the family keep, along with an Arabian horse, several miniature horses, two goats and a few cats that Beall said appeared to be well-groomed and fed.

Ten-year-old Nicole Rodriguez cradled a cat on Monday, as her mother explained that some of the family's personal pets had also been taken, creating even more trauma. "You always have to have something to hold," Nicole said, explaining why she liked being around the animals. "When you're sad, you always have someone to talk to."

Now most of the animals are being kept at Beall's Egg Harbor Township home in her heat-regulated garage, because the SPCA does not have a shelter. She said five volunteers spent an entire afternoon feeding the animals, and scrubbing and bleaching their cages.

"What I'm trying to do now is find a lawyer," Rodriguez said from the driveway of her home Monday, as goats bleated and horses munched on grass from pens only feet away. "Everything that has happened here has been very upsetting."
But before the two parties square off in court, Beall said she'll put the rescued animals up for adoption and encourage those who have given animals to the Rodriguezes to reclaim their former pets.

"It's just going to be a monumental task getting people to adopt them," Beall said.

Anyone who wishes to make an adoption inquiry can contact the SPCA at 927-9059.
Illustration: (1) Diane Bader loads cages filled with ferrets and other animals to be taken away from the Galloway Township home of Linda and Richard Rodriguez on Monday. The SPCA says it plans to put the animals up for adoption. Linda Rodriguez says she plans to find a lawyer. Color
(2) `All of a sudden we found out how many animals didn;t have homes.' says Linda Rodriguez, "We'd go to trailer parks, and retrieve abandoned ferrets. Then we would find out it was a lot more than ferrets, and we started taking in a lot more." Color

(3) Denise Holden, of the SPCA, closes a box containing a dead animal that was found stored in the car at left, At right is Linda Rodriguez. Staff color photo(s) by Vernon Ogrodnek