A woman has been charged with animal cruelty after 10 dead animals were found in her home.
A "pungent" smell of "noxious air and an odour of faeces, urine and rot […] made personnel cough and gag" as they started the search, a local animal welfare group in Suffolk County, in the US state of New York, said.
Detectives executing a search warrant found nine dead sugar gliders (a type of possum) and one dead snake.
Authorities found 20 live animals - 11 sugar gliders and nine cats - which were living in an "overcrowded area of hoarded garbage over six feet high in some spaces".
Cazandra Nucci, 42, has been charged with multiple animal cruelty charges, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
