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Police Seek Owner of Reptile Warehouse

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MILWAUKEE - Police and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources removed the last of some 200 exotic animals from a south side warehouse Friday afternoon.

"It wasn't a real safe environment," said DNR Conservation Warden Myles Gervis. "The floor's slippery. There's animal waste all over the place."

The man who owns the building 2323 S. 13th Street is 60-year-old Terry Cullen. His companion, 50-year-old Jane Flint, is already custody for animal cruelty.

Flint owns the home at 3443 S. 17th Street where authorities discovered about 50 animals earlier this week.

Cullen is known as an opinionated reptile and amphibian lover, passionate about saving species, but with little or no formal training.

"Mr. Cullen is an individual that we're looking to talk with, that's all I can at this time," Lt. Paul Felician of the Milwaukee Police Department told reporters.

Cullen also raised crocodiles at a rural property known as the Cullen Vivarium in Eustis, Florida.

"He has a great deal of personal experience and he has both skill and dedication," said University of Florida - Extension scientist Perran Ross, an associate of Cullen who visited the vivarium. "He's also made some significant contributions to the conservation of crocodiles."

While animals in Florida may have been well cared for, experts said that is not so in Milwaukee. Snakes, turtles, crocodiles and spiders were kept in what's been called "hoarder" like conditions.

"I would say woefully inadequate, at least when compared to the generally accepted standards," said Jay Christie of the Racine Zoo.

Cullen actually lives at a house in the 3300 block of S. Kinnickinnic Avenue, according tenants who rent an adjoining apartment from Cullen. Those neighbors told TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Tom Murray that Cullen kept odd hours and refused to allow let them into his basement.

Police started looking into the addresses after receiving a sexual assault complaint, although they will not say who is the target of that investigation.

The animals are being kept at the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission in West Milwaukee.

Calls placed to Cullen's cell phone have not been returned.

 

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