Crime

‘Nightmare’: 36 Dead Pets Found Decomposing in One Foot of Feces Inside New Jersey Home

36 Dead Cats Found in Home of Lorraine R. Smith Showing Signs of Cannibalism

Buddy Amato, Chief of Police for Monmouth County SPCA observes the exterior of a home at 511 LaReine Ave. (Source: APP.com)

Emergency services in Bradley Beach, N.J. responded to a 2 a.m. fire alarm on Sunday but instead of a fire, officials found 36 dead cats decomposing in a foot of excrement inside the home of a retired New Jersey teacher, The Asbury Park Post reported.

Lorraine, R. Smith, 65, is facing 36 counts of animal cruelty – one for each dead pet – and could be fined roughly $3,600 for the gruesome crime, which Victor “Buddy” Amato, chief of the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), called a “nightmare.”

Bradley Beach Police Chief Leonard A. Guida  told reporters the strong odor of the decaying cats likely caused the fire alarm to go off. Unfortunately, the alarm came too late to save any of the animals.

Wearing Hazmat suits to protect themselves from the decomposing remains, emergency service personnel and SPCA officials entered the property to survey the situation. Needless to say, they were shocked by what they found.

Perhaps the most disturbing discovery, officials said it appeared that some of the animals had practiced cannibalism in a bid to stay alive. Some of photos taken of the inside of the house are graphic:

36 Dead Cats Found in Home of Lorraine R. Smith Showing Signs of Cannibalism

The skeleton of a decomposed cat can be seen In this photo taken inside a home in Bradley Beach, New Jersey where authorities found 35 other dead animals.

“It looked like a lot of the animals were cannibalizing one another,” Amato told the APP.

“I have been doing this for ten years and out of ten this was ten plus, he  said. “Even with hazmat suits on we could only stay inside the property for 15 minutes at a stretch and there are remains of the cats and faeces up to a foot high inside.”

All of the animals are thought to be cats, however, because the various levels of decomposition it was impossible to know for sure, Amato explained to reporters.

36 Dead Cats Found in Home of Lorraine R. Smith Showing Signs of Cannibalism

The horrendous conditions inside the New Jersey home where 36 dead cats were discovered. (Source: The Daily Mail)

Investigators estimate the animals had been left alone in the house for as long as a year while Smith went back and forth from her Bradley Beach home and her ill mother’s residence in Neptune, N.J, APP.com wrote. When they began to die as a result from neglect, she just left them to rot inside the home.

“These are not bad people,” Amato said. ‘They have good intention, but then they get overwhelmed and begin to get desensitised to what is going on. I think taking care of her mother became a priority over taking care of the animals.”

Neighbors were surprised by the severity of the animal cruelty occurring inside one of the homes on their street, however, some of them had reportedly complained repeatedly about the odor coming from the house and the unkempt yard.

“It’s just a shame what happened,” a neighbor named Betty said. “I can’t understand how someone could do that, just walk away from a houseful of cats.”

Comments (87)

1 2
  • KangarooJack
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 10:53pm

    Not bad people? NOT BAD PEOPLE??? Gee, taking care of her Mom desensitised her??????????????

    Those cats died a HORRIBLE DEATH! They couldn’t get out to save their own lives. Her dumbazz locked them in. I have ZERO sympathy OR TOLERANCE for what happened.
    {I was going to type Christ’s name in vain, but I won’t}

    ….People? Exactly HOW LONG ARE WE GOING TO EXCUSE THIS BEHAVIOR????????

    Report Post » KangarooJack  
    • erxcwrestler
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 2:10am

      What would typing Christ’s name in vain accomplish? Honestly…

      Report Post »  
    • RamonPreston
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 4:53am

      Why not? Everybody does. The most common form of swearing is “Oh, my God.“ ”Thou shalt not take the name of thy Lord thy God in vain/foolishly/uselessly.” See how many times you hear in on TV today.

      Report Post » RamonPreston  
    • dutchy
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 5:21am

      There is no excuse for this behavior! Prosecute her to the full extent of the law, she should have let them go, and hunt for themselves, this makes me very mad that something like this can still happen!! Inexcusable!

      Report Post »  
    • Woodsman001
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 5:54am

      Letting them go to “fend for themselves” is just as, if not even more, heinously cruel to those cats. Just like those despicable TNR programs. EVERY LAST ONE OF THEIR CATS will torturously die by becoming road-kill, being poisoned to death from lapping up antifreeze in a gutter or someone’s garage or rat-poisons under someone’s steps or under a dumpster, will be ripped to shreds by other cats or animals, will eventually starve to death or from thirst, or heat exhaustion, freezing to death, or die from incurable diseases infections and parasites. Not only do these invasive-species cats cruelly die this way, but while alive they also torture all native wildlife to death by ripping the skins off of live animals, or disemboweling them while alive, to use them just for cats’ play-toys. On top of that, all the larger animals that depend on all those smaller animals for their ONLY food sources eventually starve to death! People who abandon cats, whether it be indoors or outdoors need to be prosecuted under all the laws that define animal-neglect, animal-endangerment, animal-cruelty, animal-abandonment and if outdoors then also throw the book at them for violating every invasive-species law in existence too. Maybe then you’ll ALL learn.

      Report Post »  
    • loriann12
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 6:14am

      36 cats? Who has 36 cats? My sister in law LOVES cats and has 6. She finds someone to house sit when she leaves for more than a day, as in overnight. If she had any concern for cats, she would have found homes for them. I don’t care how overwhelmed you are.

      As for taking Christ’s name in vane, that’s why I type OMGosh. because I don’t even like that abreviation.

      Report Post »  
    • SamualACarver
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 7:09am

      Actually he IS God. God isnt his name his name is Jesus. Saying God isnt using his name in vain, because it isnt his name.

      Report Post »  
    • BSdetector
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 7:12am

      And this woman was teaching our children… One can only imagine the damage she did there if this is what she does to her own litter.

      Report Post » BSdetector  
    • erxcwrestler
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 8:16am

      @Ramonpreston

      I am completely aware that many, many people use the phrase “Oh my God”. However, you either you understand/believe that doing so is not right, or else you just plain don’t care. But I don‘t understand why someone who believes it’s a bad thing would apply it as if it was justified in that particular situation or something.

      @ SamualACarver

      God and Jesus are the same, yet also different.They both are God, but typically the name God refers to the Father, while Jesus identifies His Son. But if that (God) is how one refers to Him, then it is using His name in vain by saying “God” or “oh my God” for a statement that is otherwise unrelated to Him. In fact, some believe that because He is our father, we should not give Him a name, as the father [parent] names the children, not vice-versa. When He identified Himself to Moses, He said “I am that I am”

      Report Post »  
    • vermindust
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 8:19am

      Bad People. By Grathnar’s hammer they are despicable, bad people.

      Report Post » vermindust  
    • canadianlady
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 8:31am

      Raymondpreston: Taking the Lord‘s name in vain is using it when one doesn’t even believe in God.

      Report Post »  
    • RRFlyer
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 9:01am

      I was going to hit myself over the head with a hammer, —- but I guess I’ll pass on that too.

      Report Post »  
    • rangerp
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 10:34am

      We live in a very sick nation. People are more concerned about pets, than people these days.

      Romans 1 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen

      I do not condone animal cruelty, and if you have a pet, you should take care of it. That being said, people get all worked up over animal cruelty, but don’t give a flip when it is a kid and not a cat. It is obvious when you look at the pics, that some people were living in some horrendous conditions. This is not normal to live in such filth.

      A few years back, the Michael Vic story was the big news. During the same time R Kelly was in court because he had sex with kids, and urinated on them. they had him on film, doing his crime. He walked out of court a free man, and not so much as a peep from the American People. Had Michael Vic walked out of court a free man, the people would have revolted.

      Report Post » rangerp  
    • rangerp
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 10:42am

      show me a cat person, and I will show you a liberal.

      that does not mean that every person that owns a cat is liberal, but I have generally found that when you find a person that owns many cats, and that just loves cats, you generally have a liberal on your hands.

      Then again, cats are generally all about themselves. They are not like a dog, where they can help the blind, seek out bombs, protect your kids…… The cat only does for itself (kind of like a person on welfare). Even if it kills rodents, it is not out of love for the owner, it does it genetically, and to feed itself.

      dogs are also loyal. Kind of like conservatives. We are loyal to our troops, to our values, loyal to the constitution. A cat has no loyalty, and if your neighbor feeds it better food than you, it will leave you for the neighbor.. A dog will fight to the death protecting its master. Thus the reason dogs work so well for the military and police.

      Report Post » rangerp  
    • midwesthippie
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 12:18pm

      …home for sale…bradley beach NJ

      Report Post » midwesthippie  
    • mama6
      Posted on May 30, 2012 at 8:33am

      Kangaroojack, Thanks alot for not using the Lord’s name in vain!! The story about the cats was awful but what really got my attention was you checked yourself!!! So many people today use the Lord’s name in vain without thinking twice!!!!

      Report Post »  
    • VoteBushIn12
      Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:10am

      @RAMONPRESTON

      If you really cared about not profaning the name of the Lord you wouldn’t write His name in its entirety at all. Should someone decide to print these pages, His name could then be unknowingly defaced.

      Deuteronomy 12:3

      That’s why the Jews right “G-d”. But you Christians don’t really “care” about whether or not you’re respecting God, you just care that others believe you are so that you can sit atop your pretty stool and look down on everyone.

      Get off your high horse. Either do it all, do nothing, or call yourself a hypocrite.
      Jesus Christ.

      Report Post » VoteBushIn12  
    • Crazyotto
      Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:17am

      Please give her a break. She was a retired teacher barely living on an exbornate pension paid for by the residents of NJ …She may be suffering from PTSD as a result of teaching in a state full of rather difficult people… She may not have even realized there were animals living/dying/pooping in the house because after all she was living in NJ…. As far as the smell .. come-on she was living in NJ and probably couldn’t tell the difference …What will probably happen is that she will be given community service and sent to work with NJ animal control… where she can TEACH them how to care animals..

      Report Post » Crazyotto  
  • RightPolitically
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 10:40pm

    Execute the bitch. Teacher? That explains it!

    Report Post » RightPolitically  
    • oneshiner
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 10:27am

      I’m with ya! My first thought was to whup this woman up the side of her head until she cries out that she’s an idiot and really hates animals.
      No one who loves pets (dogs or cat) has love in them to do this sickening deed. Condemn her house and take it away from her. Just wish a neighbor had the foresight to break a window so some of the cats could have escaped this torture. Didn’t any of them see a cat in the window knowing she was gone?

      Report Post »  
  • Stephen Markovich
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 10:30pm

    Gid firbid this happens again

    Report Post »  
    • RRFlyer
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 9:07am

      This logic I don’t understand at all. IT’s like a magazine I saw in Barns&Nobel the other day with WTF in large letters on the cover. Why use initials and cryptic non-words when everyone knows what it means anyway?
      IF you have something to say, SAY it. don‘t pretend you are ’cute‘ or smarter than anyone because you don’t write out the “Real” word.
      I guess that means now if a 6 year old comes home from school and when you ask him to pick up his toys it’s ok for him to respond by saying, “f you, do it your f-ing self” Because he didn’t Really say the word are you going to let him get away with it?

      Report Post »  
  • COFemale
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 10:12pm

    People who hoard whether it be things or animals should be sent to a mental facility and then totally clean out their homes. If you coddle these people they will continue to hoard even if you get them in-home help.

    Report Post » COFemale  
    • SgtB
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 7:16am

      Better yet, every adult child in America should just warn their parents that at any time the son/daughter feels that their parents’ home has turned into a hoarders episode, it will be burnt to the ground and the parents will be moved to a mental institution. I‘d never clean up a hoarder’s mess.

      Report Post » SgtB  
    • vermindust
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 8:17am

      And in 2020 the definition of Hoarding will be “possession of more than three books on the Glen Beck reading list,“ or perhaps ”keeping more than twenty rounds of ammunition.” Anyhow, you can get my twenty cats after they’ve eaten my cold, dead fingers.

      Report Post » vermindust  
  • mtnvortex
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:05pm

    Yet another, mentally deranged public sector employee…

    Report Post »  
    • 9111315
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 9:41am

      How can you say such a bad thing about the people who raise our children. . . . . And don’t try playing that truth card. Just because it’s true does not make it such.

      Report Post »  
  • Jenny Lind
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:02pm

    I would go without food to feed my critters if push came to shove. I can ask for help but these cats had no choice. No door or window to get out of. I am sad beyond measure that God’s gifts of companionship and love had to go through this. The only good thing is that they are safe now. What they went through is horrible and I have no understanding of why. I cannot come up with any excuse that grown people could let this happen.

    Report Post »  
  • flat_top_particular_about_the_point_it_makes
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 7:35pm

    Screw these animal hoarders, they are sick perverts, they don’t need any psychological treatment or pity, they need to be imprisoned for LIFE. Again, SCREW THEM.

    Report Post »  
    • JACKTHETOAD
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 6:59am

      Roll, skreet, roll, skreet. (a tip ‘o the capn’s hat to you.)

      Report Post » JACKTHETOAD  
  • Larry E
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 6:56pm

    Sounds like the local dog “breeder” who had over 200 dogs on her property, some dead, some injured that she swore she loved. I’ve met some of these dogs while walking my dog, and most of them are afraid of their own shadow and of other dogs and people. People who have more “pets” than they can manage and/or feed and care for are not right in the head.

    Report Post »  
  • jpschaeffer
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 6:19pm

    MAYBE they were feral cats that got in the house…..nahhhhh

    Report Post » jpschaeffer  
  • Niferno
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 4:56pm

    Just let them out, at least they would have a chance to eat chipmunks! This woman should be left to rot! No sympathy. No tolerance. No compassion. Whether we like it or not, the human race has domesticated animals for companionship. We now have the responsibility to care for them. Much like children, they do not have a choice other than to deal with the situation in which they are trapped. Unlike children, they can’t open the door and get out.

    Report Post » Niferno  
  • Whitehouse Mouse
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 4:34pm

    If Obama had a cat it would look like this.

    Report Post »  
  • ALL4FREEDOM
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 4:30pm

    No, these are not ‘good people’. There is no excuse on earth to cover this atrocity. Even if this ‘teacher’ was ‘so overwhelmed’ that she could no longer properly care for 36 cats (why that many to begin with?), and she was TOO FREAKIN’ LAZY to call the SPCA, she STILL could have just opened the door and LET THEM GO. A fine is not enough.

    Report Post »  
  • Inlandmar2
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 4:26pm

    Buddy Amato, Chief of SPCA Police, Monmouth County SPCA, Law Enforcement Division is the nations top animal cruelty investigator. Chief Amato will make sure justice is served. Go Chief Amato, go!

    Report Post » Inlandmar2  
  • flatbroke
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 4:09pm

    Very sad, all she had to do was take them to a shelter, and tell them she could no longer care for them! there really is no excuse for this!

    Report Post » flatbroke  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on May 28, 2012 at 4:20pm

      I have to agree; there is no excuse at all.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • Elena2010
      Posted on May 28, 2012 at 4:21pm

      Or even release them outside to become “working cats.” We have two cat colonies where I live that have eradicated a whole bunch of pests – rodents, rattlesnakes, roaches, etc. They are for the vast majority all “fixed and vaccinated.” TNR is the way to go! (TNR = trap, neuter, return allows the colony to stabilize and function in the environment as God intended.)

      Report Post » Elena2010  
    • grandmaof5
      Posted on May 28, 2012 at 6:58pm

      I rescue and foster and I can’t imagine allowing this to happen. Working closely with the SPCA, animal control, volunteer rescue people, and others, there is always another option. It breaks my heart just thinking about what those poor animals went through before they died – there is no excuse, unless this woman was mentally incapacitated, and then, where was her family or someone checking on her?

      Report Post »  
    • Woodsman001
      Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:10pm

      To address these TNR cat-hoarders that are replying to you … TNR is MORE humane than this?? IN YOUR DREAMS. EVERY LAST TNR’ed CAT DIES FROM: being road-kill — CRUSHED IN HALF BY CARS, cat and animal attacks, POISONED TO DEATH from antifreeze they find in gutters or garages or rat-poisons under peoples’ steps or dumpsters, from starvation JUST LIKE THESE CATS, from thirst, from freezing to death, from heat-exposure, from deadly diseases, from infections, etc., etc., on ad-infinauseum — NOT ONE TNR’ed CAT DIES FROM OLD AGE.

      And then you even heinously and cruelly rip native animals to death by letting your cats rip their skins up over their heads while alive, or disemboweling all those animals while alive. You even STARVE TO DEATH all native predators by having your cats destroy their ONLY food sources, by wasting their foods for YOUR cats’ writhing and twitching living play-toys.

      IF YOU PROMOTE TNR YOU ARE EVEN MORE CRUEL TO CATS AND *ALL* OTHER ANIMALS THAN THIS WOMAN WAS. YOU TOO NEED TO BE LOCKED UP IN PRISON FOR LIFE. HOARDING CATS OUTDOORS IS JUST AS HEINOUSLY CRUEL TO CATS AS LOCKING THEM AWAY TO DIE. YOU *ARE* THIS WOMAN. YOU ARE *WORSE* THAN THIS WOMAN.

      Report Post »  
    • RamonPreston
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 4:55am

      She didn’t even have to TAKE them to a shelter. A simple telephone call would have done it.

      Report Post » RamonPreston  
    • MuyLoco
      Posted on May 29, 2012 at 6:30am

      Woodsman, you’re an idiot.

      Report Post » MuyLoco  
  • I.Gaspar
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 4:02pm

    Some of the neighbors initially thought the smell meant that the house had been rented for the summer by debbie wasserman schultz….but then the realized the smell would have been much worse had that been the case.

    Report Post »  
  • blackyb
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:57pm

    I hope our White House does not look like that when they leave.

    Report Post » blackyb  
  • blackyb
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:56pm

    It’s about the hamburger ads just below the dead animal pictures? How sick is that?

    Report Post » blackyb  
  • Crazy Times
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:49pm

    Sad, for the animals and the people to get so warp mentaly to do such a thing.

    Report Post » Crazy Times  
  • Rational Man
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:43pm

    Like to see em try that Febreze TV commercial in that house………………

    Report Post » Rational Man  
  • abbygirl1994
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:43pm

    My arse they are good people, lazy. uncaring.. Every animal hoarding case I ever saw, was simply nothing more than laziness. She would have been better to make a 5 minute call to the ASCPA and had the cats put up for adoption, but she chose to ignore them.. laziness pure and simple. One phone call and a couple hours for someone to pick them up! Disgusting excuse for a human being to do! Stop with the excuses!

    Report Post » abbygirl1994  
  • femalecombatvet_hooah
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:40pm

    Absolutely disgusting! I don’t give a hoot what the reason was! Shame on this sicko!!!!

    Report Post » femalecombatvet_hooah  
  • blackyb
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:37pm

    Maybe these people were eating the pets. This is something that makes me wonder why someone did not have a hit these people needed help. What about the postman, water department or lights people who service these places. Did they have no idea these people had lost it?

    Report Post » blackyb  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:36pm

    Very sad, very sad. I wonder how she treated her students?

    Report Post » The-Monk  
  • blackyb
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:33pm

    Call Obama, there is a feast going on.

    Report Post » blackyb  
  • howardroark1165
    Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:25pm

    Good intentions……… where have we heard THAT before?

    Report Post » howardroark1165  
1 2

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love