10-27-2011, 07:56 PM
Omaha.com
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — It was an anonymous tip that led North Platte police to discover two young boys sleeping in a cramped dog kennel in their mobile home, where cats apparently ran free to scatter their waste and dogs often escaped.
Police receive a lot of bogus calls to check the well-being of children, often from estranged parents, North Platte Police Lt. Rich Hoaglund said. But when officers arrived about 11 p.m. Monday at the mobile home in question, they found a 5-year-old boy and his 3-year-old brother asleep in their pajamas, cramped and curled up on a vinyl-covered mattress inside a wire dog cage. The door was wired shut.
"They could both lie in a fetal position, but they couldn't stretch out," the lieutenant said Wednesday. Nor could they stand up.
The home reeked of pet urine and feces, amid piles of trash, rotting food and dirty clothing, Hoaglund said. Authorities found cat feces in the bathtub, among other places. That said, it appeared efforts were under way to clean up, Hoaglund said. A lot of the trash was in bags.
The kennel, he said, was one of the home's cleaner areas.
![[Image: bilde?Site=OW&Date=20111027&Category=NEW...0&maxh=400]](http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20111027&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=710279883&Ref=AR&maxw=600&maxh=400)
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — It was an anonymous tip that led North Platte police to discover two young boys sleeping in a cramped dog kennel in their mobile home, where cats apparently ran free to scatter their waste and dogs often escaped.
Police receive a lot of bogus calls to check the well-being of children, often from estranged parents, North Platte Police Lt. Rich Hoaglund said. But when officers arrived about 11 p.m. Monday at the mobile home in question, they found a 5-year-old boy and his 3-year-old brother asleep in their pajamas, cramped and curled up on a vinyl-covered mattress inside a wire dog cage. The door was wired shut.
"They could both lie in a fetal position, but they couldn't stretch out," the lieutenant said Wednesday. Nor could they stand up.
The home reeked of pet urine and feces, amid piles of trash, rotting food and dirty clothing, Hoaglund said. Authorities found cat feces in the bathtub, among other places. That said, it appeared efforts were under way to clean up, Hoaglund said. A lot of the trash was in bags.
The kennel, he said, was one of the home's cleaner areas.