Video .. A Japanese man collects 164 dogs in a small house

Health authorities in Japan have found 164 dogs with severe emaciation, crammed into a very small house, in one of the worst cases of animal preservation.

Kunihisa Sagami, head of the Dubatsukken Animal Welfare Group, added that authorities found dogs infected with parasites in a 30-square-meter house in the western Japanese city of Izumo in mid-October after neighbors complained, while the dogs lived stacked on shelves and under tables and chairs.

"The ground was full of dogs and all the area that could be seen from the floor was covered in excrement," said Sagami.

Public health officials visited the house seven years ago after complaints from neighbors over the noise and bad smell, but the homeowner refused to let them investigate.

The three residents said they could not bear the cost of sterilizing and neutering the dogs, so the number continued to increase.

Sagami said the family had agreed to abandon the dogs, and that his group would look for nursing homes for them after they receive medical attention.

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