Tehachapi News

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The stories from animal control officers were stark. A do-not-enter sign is taped to the front door of the property Anita Gilbert rented in Tehachapi after it was raided by Kern County Animal Control in mid-July. Gilbert is facing felony animal cruelty charges.

Urine and feces leaked from the cat carrier where a female Chihuahua with atrophied hind legs huddled, trapped against the top of her cage by the sheer volume of trash and her own waste.

Rotting rotisserie chickens and cans of spoiled pet food sat amid piles of trash on the floor.

Animals' skin, eyes and noses had been burned by the ammonia from their urine. Fur was caked with the animals' own feces.

Animal Control officer Julie Sugg told a county hearing officer Thursday morning what she uncovered at the home of accused animal abuser Anita Gilbert on July 16.
She backed up the stories with 14 grim photos taken inside the warehouse during last months' animal control raid.

Gilbert's civil attorney Clayton Campbell, who was not allowed to cross-examine Sugg, offered no evidence to counter Sugg's story.

His client wasn't there to testify.

Gilbert, who faces two felony warrants for her arrest, did not show up for Thursday's hearing - which she requested in July in an effort to get her animals back.
If she had shown up, she would have been arrested.

Two Sheriff's deputies attended the meeting but left after it was clear Gilbert was not going to show up.

The warrants are tied to her failure to appear in court on criminal animal abuse charges and to an alleged threat she made against a Kern County public defender previously assigned to the criminal case against her.

Campbell said Gilbert has told him she is in a hospital undergoing cancer treatment.
But he only has contact with her by phone and does not know what hospital she is in, he said.

“I've advised her to turn herself in,” Campbell said.

Hearing officer Brian Pitts will now consider the testimony and determine if Sugg, other animal officers, Sheriff's deputies and veterinary officials were justified in seizing 34 cats and 18 dogs from Gilbert under a search warrant served that day.

The investigation into Gilbert's situation started with a public complaint about terrible odors that was made on July 14, Sugg said.

Sugg said she could smell the stench coming from the metal warehouse building on Bear Valley Road from 50 feet away when she visited the property on July 15.

She caught her first glimpse of Gilbert as the woman tried to shove pieces of cardboard into a window to block Sugg's view into the building.

Sugg said she talked to Gilbert and was allowed a glimpse inside the warehouse - where she saw trash, feces and animals.

When Sugg asked to tour the building, she said Gilbert told her to leave unless she had a search warrant.

The next day Sugg came back with the warrant, six other animal control officers and Sheriff's deputies.

Sugg described a small studio apartment where Gilbert was living in one portion of the warehouse. It had feces-covered kitchen counters, an overpowering smell of ammonia and flooring that was “spongy” with soaked-up urine and filth.

The rest of the warehouse contained dog runs, open areas and freezers with 12 animal carcasses wrapped in plastic or paper towels.

Sugg testified that she and other animal control officers seized Gilbert's animals because they were suffering in the conditions they had been forced to live in.

Three animals have been euthanized since the raid.

Campbell tried to postpone the hearing, but his request was denied by the hearing officer, who had already postponed it once at the request of Gilbert and her former attorney George Boyle.

At the end of the hearing Campbell argued that Gilbert's animals should be released to rescue groups or, at the least, Kern County Animal Control should promise not to euthanize any further animals.

His client is worried that animal control will put them to death.

County Attorney Charles Collins said the county will keep the animals, and keep them safe, unless a veterinarian determines a specific animal needs to be put down for humane reasons.