Oklahoma man arrested after toddler found in dog cage

A neighbor called police after finding the older child outside the family's home and getting no response when he knocked on the door around 4 p.m. Sunday, as temperatures dropped to the low 40s. Officers' knocks also went unanswered, “then one of the officers looked inside and saw a small child in a dog cage,” Tulsa police spokesman Officer Leland Ashley said.

After forcing their way inside, police discovered the toddler was covered in feces and that a 3-year-old child was asleep in another room. Their father was found asleep on a bed, “in an alcohol- or narcotics-induced stupor,” Ashley said.

The three children were placed into the custody of the Department of Human Services, and the father was arrested on a child neglect complaint. The Associated Press is not naming the father so to protect the identity of the children, who showed no sign of physical injury, Ashley said.