‘Unlivable.’ Toddler locked in dog kennel at home with 600 animals, Tennessee cops say

Tennessee officials made a shocking discovery Thursday when they responded to a home for reports of animal abuse.

Animal abuse coincided with child abuse at the Henry County home Thursday, as officials found an 18-month old child locked in a dog kennel next to hundreds of roaming animals, according to Sheriff Monte Belew.

The boy’s mother, her boyfriend and his father were arrested as a result of the investigation, officials said. Belew used the words “heartbreaking” and “terrible” to describe the situation.

Henry County is located in Western Tennessee, around 110 miles away from Nashville, near the Kentucky border.

The front door of the home was open when members of the sheriff’s department, including Belew, arrived Thursday. They could see the boy in the kennel before they stepped foot in the single-wide trailer, he said.

“Throughout the whole trailer, there are no toys, no blankets, no anything,” Belew said during a Friday press conference live streamed by WZTV. “Everything that child plays with was in this kennel.”

The boy was locked in the kennel with three buckets of mice leaned up against it, the sheriff said. On top of the kennel were snakes, with a 10-foot boa constrictor just a yard away.

Belew said the there were feces on the floor and a smell of urine. In addition to hundreds of animals, there were thousands of cockroaches and maggots, he said.

“I can’t believe that people could actually survive and live in these unlivable conditions,” Belew said.

Animals on the property included 531 mice, rats and hamsters; 86 chickens and roosters; 56 dogs, including one that went into labor Thursday night; 10 rabbits; 8 snakes; 4 parakeets; 3 cats; 3 sugar gliders; 1 gecko and 1 pheasant, according to the sheriff.

The Department of Child Services and Animal Rescue Corps were called to the home to rescue the boy and various animals, Belew said.

Officials also found a marijuana operation on the property, seizing 127 marijuana plants, according to the sheriff. There were 17 guns on the premises as well, he said.

The mother, 42-year-old Heath Scarbough, was arrested along with 46-year-old T.J. Brown and 82-year-old Charles Brown. Their charges include aggravated child abuse, aggravated cruelty to animals, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, manufacturing of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. T.J. Brown was also charged as a felon in possession of a weapon.

The people arrested couldn’t believe the sheriff’s office was “interfering,” Belew said. “They just wanted to live their life and be free. We were trying to explain to them that there is a norm.”

What was most shocking to Belew, he said, was T.J. Brown not asking about the child when being questioned by authorities, but asking if he could get his animals back.