Officials raid home, remove menagerie

Neighbors say a vulture, alligators, tortoises and snakes are taken.

By ANGELA MOORE

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 27, 2000

TAMPA -- For almost 20 years, Bert Wahl has operated Wildlife Rescue Inc. from a house and yard in Seminole Heights.

The urban wildlife farm -- which at times has housed everything from emus and Florida panthers to vultures, ferrets and other animals -- was supposed to exist to rehabilitate injured animals and prepare them for release back into the wild.

But for years, state and local animal officials and neighbors have charged that Wahl is an abuser, not a savior of animals.

Monday, officials from Hillsborough County Animal Services, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the city of Tampa raided the run-down house at 127 W Hiawatha Ave. and the animal pens behind it around 11:30 a.m., neighbors said. They didn't leave until after 5 p.m., taking most of Wahl's live animals -- and many dead ones -- with them.

A notice from the city posted on the house's front door declared it unfit for human habitation after the officials' visit. Neighbors said Wahl lived in another house on Elm Street, adjacent to the one the city ordered vacated.

Another notice from Hillsborough County Animal Services hung on the house's mailbox. Inside were citations informing Wahl the county took away his animals.

"I have impounded Romulus," wrote Sgt. Lois E. Wimsett in one citation. It did not state what kind of animal Romulus is. In another, an inspector said he had taken three white ferrets.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission took Wahl's wild animals, neighbors said, including a vulture, alligators, tortoises and snakes.

But 13-year-old Jason Scoggins said he saw more dead animals come out of the house than he did live ones. He wasn't surprised.

"Can't you smell that?" he asked Monday evening. "Every time he'd come out that door, it would smell that way, just like dead things rotting."

Indeed, the air around the house reeked of decay. On the house's front porch, the stench was stomach-turning.

Jason said the smell was even stronger when officials had the doors of the house open as they carted out dead tortoises, snakes and birds.

Back in 1997, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission tried to take away Wahl's license for rehabilitation and exhibition on the grounds that he mistreated his animals. Wahl was convicted in Hillsborough County twice for mistreating tortoises and otters. It was unknown Monday night whether Wahl still had a valid permit for the animals taken.

Wahl did not answer his door, and neither Wahl nor his attorney returned calls seeking comment Monday night.

Kathryn Wahl, an associate and a relative, also declined to comment.

State wildlife officials and county animal services officials did not return calls and pages Monday night, so it was unclear whether Wahl has been charged with a crime.

Most of the animal pens in the yard behind the Hiawatha Avenue home sat empty, still buzzing with flies. Three scraggly emus were left behind in the rain.

"I used to come by here and give them water out of those garbage can lids because they always looked thirsty and hungry," Jason said.

"All of the animals always looked sick. That's why it's so sad."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.