An Iowan family experienced a moment out of a horror film when their basement became filled with animal fat, bones and blood from the meat locker next door to their home.
Nick Lestina and his family have lived next door to the Dahl’s Custom Meat Locker in Bagley, Iowa, for the last ten years and have had few issues up until recently.
The father claims that the meat locker’s ownership changed in the last year.
‘They haven’t reached out at all. In fact, they haven’t taken any accountability for it,’ Lestina explained to WHO-TV.
Nick Lestina and his family have lived next door to the Dahl’s Custom Meat Locker in Bagley, Iowa, for the last ten years
The father claims that the meat locker’s ownership changed in the last year and the company has been unresponsive to their issues
‘They say it’s not their fault and told me ‘good luck.’ If I want to do anything about it, it’s on my dime and my schedule.’
Lestina has been in contact with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, who are investigating the case and has been in contact with the meat locker.
‘The meat locker from my standpoint has been pretty cooperative,’ explained Kevin Wilken, a senior environment specialist with the Iowa DNR. ‘They have worked with me to come up with a permanent solution so the animal blood, fat and all that stuff is no longer discarded down those floor drains.’
Lestina has been in contact with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, who are investigating the case and has been in contact with the meat locker
The family has had to live elsewhere after the Iowa Department of Health deemed the home a health hazard. Bones and animal fat can be seen
According to Wilken, the meat locker’s owner – Katelyn Dahl – hogs and cattle had been killed on October 3 and flushed down the floor drain.
Dahl believed that the floor drain discharges into a tile, likely connected to the Lestina’s floor drain via the same pipe.
‘I’m looking into thousands of dollars with cleanup, over 2,000 just to sanitize the basement,’ he said. ‘I don’t have thousands of dollars to throw away at this’
The home was a health hazard, prompting the DNR to get the Iowa Department of Health involved.
The Lestina family was advised to live elsewhere while the house is being cleaned but they assert that the Dahl family has not cooperated with them.
‘I’m looking into thousands of dollars with cleanup, over 2,000 just to sanitize the basement,’ he said. ‘I don’t have thousands of dollars to throw away at this.’
Both Lestina and the DNR confirmed that the blood only stopped rising because of the family’s sump pump.
‘No one wants to see that, smell that. I wouldn’t want that for anybody in their house,’ Lestina added.
The family has lost several things in the basement, including a bed they were saving for their one-year-old son.
‘I wouldn’t really wish this on anybody, but all I can do is keep moving forward and try to take care of the problem,’ Lestina said.
Both Lestina and the DNR confirmed that the blood only stopped rising because of the family’s sump pump
On Facebook, the meat locker management released a statement claiming that the ‘plumbing issue was not disclosed’ to them prior to buying the company on April 1.
‘The Guthrie County Sanitarian had inspected, and passed all of the plumbing at the plant March 9, 2019 and again for the change of ownership, May 20th, 2019,’ the company’s statement continued.
‘This was not our fault, however, we are taking full responsibility of the issue and corrected it immediately.’
On Facebook, the meat locker management released a statement claiming that the ‘plumbing issue was not disclosed’ to them prior to buying the company on April 1
Dahl’s claimed that they were first notified of the issue on October 3 after being contacted by DNR.
‘We immediately had corrected the issue the following day October 4th, 2019,’ the company stated. ‘DNR, IDALS, and Guthrie County Public Health, all approved of the new waste management of the waste water.
We are continuing to work closely with the DNR to make sure that things are done correctly.’
There was no mention on whether the company would help the family.