Hundreds of animals rescued from Kansas City home

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) -- More than 260 animals were rescued from a home at 40th and Wabash Monday afternoon. It is the largest animal hoarding case folks at KCMO Animal Control can remember.

Neighbors who live in the duplex next door thought the foul smell in their home was a dead animal under the house, never knowing it was coming from next door.

"Quite frankly we were stunned at what we saw," said John Bacalla, spokesman for KCMO Animal Control. "The house is full of lab rats and geckos and turtles and guinea pigs and rabbits."

The Kansas City Fire Department hazmat team checked out the duplex, testing it for ammonia levels to determine if the building is habitable, wearing masks and oxygen tanks to remove dozens of cages holding hundreds of animals.

In all, 217 rats, 16 rabbits, two geckos, two guinea pigs, six turtles/tortoises, nine hamsters, three gerbils and three mice were rescued.