Deputies Rescue 37 Animals From Rogers County Property

Rogers County deputies have rescued 37 animals from a home this week, including dogs, cats, reptiles, birds and a pony.

Deputies said many of the animals were locked up in cages, without any food or water.

Dustin and Anne Parker have turned themselves in to the Rogers County Sheriff's Office, and they are now both facing dozens of counts of animal cruelty.

"Not only did we see neglected animals on scene, we saw several dead animals, just in plain sight, they were just decaying in the open, it was pretty bad," said Lt. Daniel Welch.

Lt. Daniel Welch with the Rogers County Sheriff's Office said someone called them after going to the house.

He said the inside of the house was filthy, with dogs inside and a four-foot-long snake was on the loose.

Welch said three dogs were dead, lined up on the porch, and one was dead inside a cage.

"Many of the animals were pinned up, they didn't have access to food or water, covered in parasites, didn't appear to be wormed, didn't appear to have any type of vet care or anything like that, obvious signs of neglect," he said.

Welch said Dustin and Anne Parker refused to give an explanation.

He said there are systems in place to avoid this type of problem.

"They didn't just have dogs and cats, they had reptiles, birds, they just had a lot of animals, I think they had more than they could care for, they may have had good intentions, but it got out of hand," he said.

Welch said with no animal control officers in the county, the burden to respond to these types of calls falls to them, and they want to make sure animals are safe.

"We have limited resources but we do the best we can, we certainly prioritize animal cruelty cases and try to get them handled as quickly as we can," he said.

The humane society of Tulsa said they are collecting donations for the animals.