Clay Davenport
Cerebral Nomad
DUBUQUE - Neighbors say hundreds of snakes, mice and rats are stinking up a Dubuque neighborhood.
Last month Dubuque police found 350 snakes living inside a Dubuque home. Police inspected the home and confiscated six illegal snakes, but they left the rest.
Now a next door neighbor is speaking out. She claims there's an unsettling odor in the air.
Kate Dean is sick of the smell she says is spewing from her neighbor's house. So she's made several complaints to the city's health department.
Dean said, "It’s almost like when you're at a zoo and one the animals does what it does."
Next door Bill Shaffer and Linda Merfeld house the snakes as pets. These are the snakes they keep in the upper level of their home and they keep hundreds of mice and rats in the basement to feed the reptiles.
"The rodents are in the basement but there is no odor coming out. We never open the windows down there for one thing, and they get cleaned twice per week if not more."
Bill and Linda would only allow us in the basement without our cameras because they are in the process of cleaning. But when we were downstairs it basically smelled like a pet store.
"I never noticed an odor, and if it was that bad you would think animal control or the health department would knock on my door and say it stinks out here."
But Dean is worried what she can smell might hurt her children.
Dean said, "During the summer we have to run the air conditioning all the time because of we leave the windows open and the wind is blowing from that way, then it comes in from that way.
The Health Department has investigated and says the odor is not a health threat; it's more of a nuisance. A nuisance Dean says she can't stand.
Dubuque does not limit the number of snakes a person can own. The Health Department says staff will continue to monitor the situation during the warmer months.
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/5998796.html
Last month Dubuque police found 350 snakes living inside a Dubuque home. Police inspected the home and confiscated six illegal snakes, but they left the rest.
Now a next door neighbor is speaking out. She claims there's an unsettling odor in the air.
Kate Dean is sick of the smell she says is spewing from her neighbor's house. So she's made several complaints to the city's health department.
Dean said, "It’s almost like when you're at a zoo and one the animals does what it does."
Next door Bill Shaffer and Linda Merfeld house the snakes as pets. These are the snakes they keep in the upper level of their home and they keep hundreds of mice and rats in the basement to feed the reptiles.
"The rodents are in the basement but there is no odor coming out. We never open the windows down there for one thing, and they get cleaned twice per week if not more."
Bill and Linda would only allow us in the basement without our cameras because they are in the process of cleaning. But when we were downstairs it basically smelled like a pet store.
"I never noticed an odor, and if it was that bad you would think animal control or the health department would knock on my door and say it stinks out here."
But Dean is worried what she can smell might hurt her children.
Dean said, "During the summer we have to run the air conditioning all the time because of we leave the windows open and the wind is blowing from that way, then it comes in from that way.
The Health Department has investigated and says the odor is not a health threat; it's more of a nuisance. A nuisance Dean says she can't stand.
Dubuque does not limit the number of snakes a person can own. The Health Department says staff will continue to monitor the situation during the warmer months.
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/5998796.html
People are getting more intolerant by the day.
