Article:
PHOENIX An Arizona man was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty after hundreds of dying or dead domesticated rats were found inside a large trailer north of Phoenix, authorities said on Tuesday. 
  
 Jeffrey Wendorff, 28, was arrested by Yavapai County sheriff's deputies on Monday and could face two misdemeanor charges since the discovery in Black Canyon City, about 50 miles from Phoenix. 
  
 Arriving deputies and animal control officers could immediately smell a stench from the property and discovered 300 to 500 rats in a pen in the back of the trailer and several others in a front area, said sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn. 
  
 "The temperature inside the trailer was over 100 degrees and the odor was overwhelming," D'Evelyn said in a statement. He estimated that about 25 percent of the animals were dead. 
  
 Authorities said they were tipped to the gruesome scene by a citizen who called the county health department after seeing the rats in and around the large travel trailer. 
  
 Deputies also found several aquariums with newborn and adult rats that appeared to be in good condition. 
  
 Wendorff told sheriff's deputies he was living on the property rent free as part of a deal with the property owner to breed and sell the rats. 
  
 He also said he stopped caring for the rodents recently and had left the residence over a pay dispute, telling deputies, "As far as I know, (the rats are) probably all dead." 
  
 Wendorff has since been released from a county detention center and is due in court at a future date that was not immediately known, D'Evelyn said. 
  
 (Reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix; Editing by Eric M. Johnson and Michael Perry) ||||| Jul 1, 2014 8:26 PM by Marissa Esquivel 
  
 Yavapai County man accused of animal cruelty to rats 
  
 YAVAPAI COUNTY - A Yavapai County man has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty charges. 
  
 On Monday, Yavapai County Health Services got a call from a citizen reporting numerous dying and dead rats in and around a trailer on the property. 
  
 When deputies arrived, they immediately smelled urine, feces and dead animal carcass' emanating from the property. 
  
 The trailer had a cage in the front section with several dead rats. Other cages near the end of the trailer had 300-500 rats, most of which where dead. 
  
 Inside the main house, deputies found aquariums with newborn and adult rats, which appeared to be in good condition. 
  
 Sheriff deputies said the temperature inside the trailer was over 100 degrees and the odor was overwhelming. 
  
 Deputies were able to determine that 28-year-old Jeffrey Wendorff was the caretaker of rats. He was located at a nearby business and detained. 
  
 Wendorff first denied any knowledge of animals on the property. Eventually, he admitted that he had stopped caring for the rats. 
  
 Wendorff said he was living at the location until a couple of weeks ago. Both he and the property owner had previously entered into a business partnership, breeding and selling rats. Wendorff told duputies that the arrangement allowed him to live on the property for free. Following a money dispute, Wendorff abandoned his duty as the primary caretaker, moved, and abandoned the animals. 
  
 Wendorff was arrested and charged with Cruel Mistreatment of Animals and Cruel Neglect/Abandonment of Animal, both misdemeanors. He was booked at the Camp Verde Detention Center and has since been released on a promise to appear for court. |||||Summary:

– It was a scene whose appearance was likely rivaled only by its smell: An Arizona man is facing animal cruelty charges after Yavapai County sheriff’s deputies, acting on a tip, discovered scores of dead or dying rats in and around a trailer, Reuters reports; a pen in the trailer's rear contained as many as 500 rats. Roughly a quarter were dead, said a sheriff’s department rep. When they and animal control officers arrived at the scene Monday, deputies were welcomed by the "overwhelming" stench of feces, urine, and decomposition, adds KVOA; the temperature inside the trailer was reportedly over 100 degrees. Newborn and adult rats found in a number of aquariums that contained food and water appeared fine, reports the Arizona Republic. Jeffrey Wendorff, 28, who according to KVOA initially denied that he knew about the rats’ presence, was arrested on suspicion of cruel mistreatment of animals and cruel neglect and abandonment of an animal. Deputies say he ultimately admitted that he lived on the property rent-free in exchange for breeding the rats, but that his relationship with the property owner soured over money, causing him to take off a couple weeks ago, leaving the animals to their own devices. "As far as I know, (the rats are) probably all dead,” he told deputies. (Earlier this year, hundreds of dying snakes were found in a "house of horrors.")