Arizona Man Accused of Freezing Almost 200 Animals Inside a Garage Freezer

A man in Arizona, United States, is facing charges of animal cruelty after being found to possess almost 200 animals, including dead birds, dogs, rabbits, and other species, in his garage freezer.

Local authorities believe some of the animals died from freezing while they were alive.

Frozen to Death

(Photo : Photo by Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)

In early April, a woman reported to officials that a 43-year-old man by the name of Michael Patrick Turland has not returned the snakes she lends to him for breeding at a rented home in Golden Valley, a rural community in western Arizona.

The incident raised initial speculations that Turland was keeping animals at the said storage.

The initial report was confirmed when the property's owner cleaned the establishment while Turland and his wife were away.

The owner then contacted the woman who informed the authorities of the incident.

This prompted the Mohave County animal control officers and deputies to respond, which paved the way for the April 3 discovery of the dead animals, which also include mice, rats, turtles, lizards, and snakes.

The sheriff's office said they were kept in a large-sized chest freezer, as per The Guardian.

Initial investigation indicated that some of the said mammals and reptiles died in such a manner due to body positioning, added by the sheriff's office.

Also Read: Mass Deaths of Koalas in Australia Prompt Animal Cruelty Charges

Arrest: Animal Cruelty Charges

Police forces arrested Turland when he returned to his home on April 13.

The suspect admitted that he kept some of the animals in the freezer while they were still alive.

However, there is still no new information regarding scheduled hearings. Bur, court orders indicated that Turland had 94 counts of animal cruelty on his plate.

Moreover, it is not clear why Turland acquired a large number of animals before killing them. The case can also be categorized as animal hoarding aside from animal cruelty under Arizona law.

Arizona Animal Law

In 2021, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey reportedly signed a bill that prevents residents convicted of animal cruelty from owning a pet for up to five years.

As a result, the Arizona law requires pets such as cats and dogs to be transferred to a "different household" if their owner is convicted of such a crime.

In exceptional cases, an offender may live in a house with a pet as long as the animal is taken care of by someone else that has not been convicted.

During these circumstances, the monitored person must be under the strict supervision of judicial courts.

Furthermore, an offender may take care of a pet again if he or she has undergone psychiatric treatment and no longer poses a threat to animals after a year of being convicted.

According to Debra Nolan, founder of the animal rights organization 'Don't Leave Me', there is also a strong correlation between domestic violence and animal abuse, as cited by the local media outlet KOLD News 13.

Nolan, who also initiated the animal bill in the Grand Canyon State, said that 89% of abused women also had their pets harmed, threatened, or killed by their partners.

US Animal Welfare Act

Over recent months, multiple cases of separate yet related cases of animal abuse and animal cruelty such as hoarding, beating, killing, and abandonment have been reported in several states across the country.

In the US, states are governed by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) ratified in 1966, as per the National Agricultural Library of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Still, each federal jurisdiction are allowed to impose or develop its own specific measures when it comes to upholding the advocacies of the AWA, which prohibits all kinds of violence and actions that degrades the welfare and well-being of animals.