Suspected dog hoarder Geoffrey Peterson may have had more canines in other sites

Rescue workers found more than 50 dogs, cats and a goat in a Dunlap home. Bond was set at $10,000 for the Hixson man arrested in the case.
Rescue workers found more than 50 dogs, cats and a goat in a Dunlap home. Bond was set at $10,000 for the Hixson man arrested in the case.

This is a very sad, very bizarre case."

Investigators are looking into whether suspected dog hoarder Geoffrey Peterson was keeping more animals than the 60 found in a feces-filled house in Dunlap, Tenn., last week.

"We're investigating several other locations in the Chattanooga area," Jamie McAloon, director of the McKamey Animal Shelter, said Tuesday.

"This is a very sad, very bizarre case," McAloon said.

She said McKamey investigators picked up three dogs from Peterson's business, Holistic Health & Primary Care on Highway 153 in Hixson, and are looking at at least two other locations.

Peterson was arrested Friday after the Sequatchie County Sheriff's Office and workers with the Tennessee chapter of the Humane Society of the United States raided the house at 240 Austin Road.

They found more than 50 dogs, several cats, a parrot and a goat in the Dunlap house.

"These animals are living in absolute filth," Leighann Lassiter, the Tennessee state director for the Humane Society of the United States, said at the time. "They are trapped in rusty cages, lying in their own filth and urine and feces."

Peterson appeared in Sequatchie County General Sessions Court Tuesday morning, charged with four counts of aggravated animal cruelty, one count of animal cruelty and felony possession of morphine, according to a news release.

Sessions Judge L. Thomas Austin set a $10,000 bond and added a condition that Peterson have no contact with or control of any animals, the release stated.

photo Geoffrey Peterson was charged with animal cruelty on December 19, after Sequatchie County law enforcement found more than 60 animals living in filthy conditions in his home.

McAloon said McKamey has been inundated with tips related to Peterson's alleged hoarding, as well as inquiries from anxious owners asking if any of the rescued pets are theirs.

"It's sad. People are desperately looking for their pets. They're sending us fliers, asking us to compare photos," she said.

She didn't know if the Humane Society also was receiving tips for other possible hoarding locations outside Chattanooga. Bob Citrullo, executive director of the Chattanooga Humane Educational Society, could not be reached for comment.

McKamey is taking care of 14 dogs -- 11 rescued from the Dunlap house and three from Peterson's business -- and those animals have a bright future, McAloon said.

"I think all these animals will be rehomed if we were to be granted custody," she said.

Contact staff writer Judy Walton at jwalton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6416.

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