An Iowa man preparing to put his home on the market ran into an unexpected snag: not non-committal buyers, but a basement flooded with animal blood from a neighboring meat locker.
Nick Lestina, who has a family of seven in Bagley, Iowa, told NBC affiliate WHO-TV of Des Moines that he had lived next to Dahl’s Meat Locker for a decade with no problems. The family recently discovered their basement had been flooded by blood and animal remains Dahl's had dumped down a drain connected to their home's pipes.
"Nobody wants to see that, smell that," Lestina told the station. "I wouldn't want that for anybody, to have that in their house."
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The owners of the meat locker have offered to help with cleanup costs and always intended to do so, the Des Moines Register reported.
"We don't want to harm anybody. We're not bad people. We're trying to make a living, not enemies," Kaitlin Dahl told the newspaper. The company is hoping a resolution can be reached out of court, according to the Register.
The macabre mishap destroyed the family's belongings that were stored in the basement, including a bed they were saving for one of their children, WHO reported.
Bagley is a town of around 300 about 45 miles northwest of Des Moines.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is investigating.
Kevin Wilken, an environment specialist with the department, told WHO-TV that the owner of the meat locker is cooperating. They said they had killed hogs and cattle Oct. 3 and flushed the blood down a floor drain, which they believe is connected to the Lestina's home.
Wilken told the station that the owner is working on a solution so that blood and other materials are no longer discarded down the floor drains.
