HORRIFIC

Responding to Animal Cruelty Call, Tennessee Sheriff Finds Caged Toddler

The 18-month-old was found among hundreds of birds, dogs, bugs, rodents, and their excrement.

Sheriff’s deputies in Tennessee were responding to a report of animal cruelty late Thursday when they found a starving toddler in a 4-foot by 4-foot cage, authorities said. Hundreds of animals surrounded the 18-month-old boy in the trailer, as did their excrement and his own. Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew said his deputies found dogs, bugs, birds, more than 500 rodents, and a 10-foot snake that could have easily suffocated the child. Three of the adults living at the home, including at least one of the toddler’s relatives, have been arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse, animal cruelty, firearms possession by a felon, manufacturing marijuana, and drug possession. “He needed to be out of there, and the animals did, too,” Belew said. “It was a heartbreaking situation.”