'Heartbreaking': Vets evaluate nearly 900 animals rescued from eastern Iowa home

VINTON, Ia. — More than 24 hours after hundreds of animals were taken from an eastern Iowa home, veterinarians and others were still counting and evaluating them Wednesday to get a handle on the rescue. Also on Wednesday, the homeowner denied the animals were malnourished or otherwise neglected.

Preston Moore, director of the Cedar Valley Humane Society, said the shelter has never brought in more animals at once in its 117-year history.

“It was really heartbreaking,” he said, describing the work as "overwhelming." He called the animals' living conditions inhumane, with some animals living among carcasses and other animals found dead in a freezer.

Homeowner Barbara “Babs” Galkowski said in a phone interview Wednesday that the animals were not neglected or starving and she takes in rescue animals and breeds and shows guinea pigs. She accused authorities of exaggerating the number of animals who lived with her, her husband and four children ages 5 to 14.

“It was devastating," she said of the seizures at her West Sixth Street home in Vinton. "My daughter screamed. Those animals are like their children.”

The children have been removed from the home by the Department of Human Services and placed with family members in another community until case managers are satisfied that the home is safe for youths, Vinton Police Chief Ted Paxton said. The children were healthy, he said.

Galkowski called the execution of a search warrant at the home "bad timing," saying she recently received a large number of rescue animals and she was days behind in cleaning the cages because she had the flu. She said she does not sell animals but adopts them, something for which she said she was working on earning a license.

Humane society veterinarians had visually evaluated nearly 900 animals that were rescued Tuesday morning. Police have estimated they took up to 1,000 animals, including rabbits, chinchillas, turtles, fish, birds and a ball python. When they executed the search warrant, police said they found cages on top of cages of animals in the home and an attached garage.

Moore said there will be more than 1,000 animals after some of them give birth.

Police are still investigating and have not determined whether any criminal charges or civil sanctions will be filed. Officers initially responded to the home to investigate suspected violations of city ordinances involving animals, and spent about 10 hours taking animals from the three-story home that has a basement.

When Moore walked through the front door, the home smelled like a livestock barn, he said. In the basement, where a majority of the animals lived in overcrowded cages, volunteers could smell dead animals, feces, urine and ammonia. None of the animals had clean water and few had food, Moore said. Volunteers found as many as 30 parakeets in one small cage.

“Every square inch you looked, you found more and more animals,” Moore said. “It was overwhelming.”

Veterinarians at the humane society are evaluating the dehydrated and thin animals, a majority of which have fungal infections, Moore said. Some rabbits have ringworm, and numerous animals have viral infections. A majority of the animals will need treatment for parasites.

The humane society has also claimed there was evidence that some of the animals have undergone surgery by an untrained person, something Galkowski denied.

Most of the animals recovered were guinea pigs and rabbits. Moore estimated about 10 to 20 animals were dead animals, and said he saw one rabbit — an herbivore — feeding on a dead rabbit in the same cage.

Dustin Vande Hoef, a spokesman with the Iowa Department of Agriculture, said Galkowski did not have license to sell, adopt or operate an animal rescue.

In December, Galkowski verbally asked Vinton City Administrator Chris Ward if the City Council could change zoning ordinances to allow her to sell snakes out of her home, he said. The council declined.

Since news broke of the number of animals in her home, Galkowski said, she has received a number of threats and been harassed.

"They say my children will die. I should go to hell," she said. "That we should never have animals."

“I have nothing to hide,” she added. “They just didn’t give me a chance.”

She said she told authorities she would give up her rescue animals, but she wants the others back. It's not uncommon for some animals, who are often in poor health upon arrival, to die, she said.

Galkowski and her husband, Marshall, also own 13 horses in Shellsburg, the city’s police chief said. The Benton County Sheriff’s Office has checked on the horses and has determined they are in good condition with plenty of shelter, food and water, Paxton said.

Moore described the situation as hoarding. According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, it is likely that up to a quarter million animals — 250,000 each year — are victims of hoarders. Defense fund records also indicate that in the last four years, the number of reported hoarding cases has more than doubled.

Hoarding, according to the legal defense fund, is the primary animal cruelty crisis facing companion animals in American communities.

What will happen to the animals?

ADOPTIONS LIKELY: More than half of the animals sized Tuesday were taken to the Cedar Valley Humane Society, which hopes to gain full possession of the animals and put them up for adoption, said Preston Moore, the director. Another nearly 400 animals were taken to the Wild Thunder Animal Rescue.

HOW TO DONATE: In an average year, the humane society takes in 2,000 animals; the number discovered Tuesday has proved stressful for Moore’s staff and volunteers. For now, the shelter is accepting donations, such as money and small animal cages and bedding, to help the animals that were seized.