couple have been arrested and charged with child abuse and animal cruelty after 300 different pets were found in their Florida home.

Police were called to the home of Jeffrey O'Neil and Jennifer Kovacs yesterday when the pair reported that their 16-month-old daughter was missing.

The girl was found safe - but her parents were arrested over the menagerie of snakes, lizards, rats and other animals which made the house almost uninhabitable.

O'Neil, 28, and 26-year-old Kovacs called police at six o'clock on Sunday morning when they woke up after a party and realised their daughter was not in the house.

When police arrived at their home in Oldsmar, the pair were apparently drunk, while the house had an overwhelming stench due to the animals - both dead and alive - which were being kept there.