Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Highland Avenue Structure

Yesterday, I drug SAM on an extra long walk to check out the Powhatten place, but nothing much was going on over there.
So I decided to head north, past Hanna (an unusual direction for our normal walk) to check out a building that caught my eye a few days ago. Unfortunately, I did not consider the fact that as we are getting later and later into May and with the progression into summer comes late afternoon thunderstorms.
Luckily, with the sky darkening, I reached the odd house at the corner of Sligh and Highland after almost turning back.



The house is obviously abandoned which is odd in and of itself - not so much because no one lives there, but because the real estate market is quite competitive in Seminole Heights and empty houses usually don't stay empty long and they stay relatively well-kept during their time on the market. But this place doesn't even boast a for-sale sign.

However, it wasn't the fact that this place was abandoned that caught my attention - instead it was the backyard.


The place is filled with cages - and these cages contain little plastic igloo shelters.





What kind of animals were in these cages? What was going on at this place? These people must have been breeders or some serious hobbyists of some sort. I seem to have this odd childhood memory large cats being located behind a place like this in Seminole Heights. Maybe this is the original location of Wildlife on Easy Street or something similar. Does anyone out there have any clues?
Unfortunately, I forgot to jot down the address to lookup the property on the Property Appraiser site because Sam's tugging alerted me to the presence of rain drops beginning to feel a little harder than a light sprinkle. So, I hurried away without thinking about getting more information to help solve the puzzle. I guess a trip back is in order.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to live in your neighborhood 10 years ago. These cages were home to a bunch of mountain lions or cougars. They were big muscuar cats, and I used to just stare at them in disbelief. I also felt sorry for them.

They also had a mean big black dog that used to come out and get loud and mean if you lingered by the fence.

alivinghominid said...

thanks for the information -
i thought i had a vague memory of big cats in those cages...

Anonymous said...
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David Scott Banghart said...
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David Scott Banghart said...

Bert Wahl - noted animal activist who was charged with animal cruelty and many code enforcement issues

Anonymous said...

Isn't the internet amazing...

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:AA1RuouUkjoJ:www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/news/1995/05/WAHL.HTM+%22wildlife+rescue%22+bert+wahl&hl=en
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/news/1997/08/WAHL.HTM
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/news/2000/08/WAHLB.HTM

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