TN WORST CASE OF ANIMAL CRUELTY WARNING!!! GRAPHIC PHOTOS

[tnhatesbush]

3 different links from Knoxville News Media
http://www.volunteertv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2096915&nav=4QcHPFC4
http://www.wbir.com/News/news.asp?ID=19022
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=2096143


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We want to warn the audience that some of the attached video and photos are disturbing and is not appropriate for young children.

Law enforcement officials are calling it a gruesome animal cruelty case. So bad that local authorities are leveling felony charges.

WVLT Volunteer TV's Eric Waddell was in Morgan County with the Sheriff's Department and joins us.

Seventeen counts of aggravated animal cruelty have been leveled against Paul Adolph Riehl.

The sheriff told us this is one of the worst cases of animal cruelty he has ever seen.


"The home was 6 to 12 inches deep with dog droppings throughout the home," says Boby Gibson, Morgan County Sherriff's Office.

Morgan County Sheriff says Paul Adolph Riehl left 17 cats and dogs to fend for themselves, no food or water for several weeks.

WBIR-TV snips

It is the worse case of animal abuse Morgan County officials say they have ever seen. A Wartburg man is in jail, charged with assaulting his wife and abusing their pets. Under the new state law that took effect July first, all seventeen animal cruelty charges against 37-year-old Paul Adolph Riehl are felonies.

Riehl's estranged wife spoke with 10 News. She described learning about what happened to the animals that meant so much to her. She says they were like her children. "It broke my heart, it still does to think about it, I don't want to see the pictures, I don't want to know what they went through," said Riehl's estranged wife.

But she and her thirteen-year-old daughter had to leave after officers say Riehl poured gasoline on his wife and tried to light her on fire. "The hardest thing I've ever done, they are like my children, and it's like leaving her behind, and I would never do that, but I couldn't take them all with me," said Riehl's wife.

On July third, officers had to break a window to get into Riehl's house. They say what they found inside was horrific. "The stronger ones were killing the smaller ones and using them for food, it was a bad situation," said Morgan County Sheriff Bobby Gibson.

snip from WATETV
Morgan County Sheriff Bobby Gibson said officers who came to the home July 3rd weren't ready for what they found. "I've never seen anything as bad as this."

According to the sheriff, officers didn't find the suspect. Instead, they found 12 dogs and five cats, some dead, some starved and eating the smaller animals and aluminum foil to survive.

Plus, Gibson said you couldn't walk through the filth. "The home was from six inches deep to 12 inches deep with dog droppings, all through the home."

Rescuers and a vet removed the animals. They may have been locked in the house for weeks. "It was unlike anything I'd ever seen," said Howard Loftin, with Road Home Animal Rescue. "The vet said it was the worst actual scene that she had ever witnessed."

TERRIBLE TERRIBLE!!!

[Richard D]

1. Worst case I've personally ever seen

OK, I had to do it. I'm not myself tonight. That was a horrible story above, and I do feel for the animals.

[tnhatesbush]

2. :)

That was a lighter note.... normally I would hope smirk would get a bite or two or maybe... but.....

[bloodyjack]

3. At least he's nice to the goddamned dog

Probably only touches it on camera