The moment workers started destroying Silicon Valley homeless camp known as 'The Jungle' - just a stone's throw from tech giant HQs -
Residents were forced out of shantytown known as 'The Jungle' in San Jose by police on pain of arrest for trespassing -
The encampment was located at the heart of opulent Silicon Valley, home to tech giants Apple, Google and Facebook -
The city's homelessness response manager said increased violence, unsanitary conditions and wet weather made it imperative the camp be cleared -
City officials sent in trash trucks to haul out tons of hazardous and human waste and fill in excavated areas
Construction workers dressed in white hazmat suits and accompanied by bulldozers descended Thursday on a trash-strewn California creek bed in the heart of Silicon Valley to begin clearing away one of the nation's largest homeless camps. About 50 mud-splattered, angry men and women dragged their few worldly possessions out of their tents and ramshackle huts, known collectively as The Jungle, and walked alongside a busy San Jose highway, startling passers-by who slowed down to watch. ‘People drive by and look at us like we're circus animals,’ said a sobbing Nancy Ortega. 
+28 Tearing down the Jungle: Workers dismantle a dwelling at a Silicon Valley homeless encampment known as The Jungle on December 4 in San Jose, California, in the heart of affluent Silicon Valley 
+28 American shantytown: The Jungle had been one of the nation's largest homeless encampments, a cluster of flimsy tents and plywood shelters that once housed more than 200 people 
+28 Defiant: Valentine Cortes, a journeyman construction worker pictured with a 6-week-old puppy in his hands, said he had no plans to leave his makeshift shelter 
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+28 Strong messages: Mercy Wong, left, and Shaunn Cartwright, right, protest the dismantling of the shantytown. The encampment, only a few minutes away from the city's downtown district, was home to people forced out of an overheating rental market 
+28 Breaking up the family: Yolanda Gutierrez, a 2-year resident of the homeless encampment, holds a sign in protest 
+28 Emotional: One of The Jungle's residents wept as bulldozers moved on the Silicon Valley homeless encampment 
+28 Massive undertaking: It will take several days to haul out tons of garbage and debris from the site More than 30 police officers and dozens of cleanup workers in white hazmat suits joined about 15 social-service workers in the effort to dismantle the filthy, rodent-infested community that at its peak housed as many as 350 people living in squalor just a short drive from tech giants Google, Apple, Yahoo and eBay. Ortega shuddered and clutched her fleece blanket while watching tractors cram couches, tents, blankets, rotten food and pails of excrement into roaring garbage trucks. ‘It's just junk to everyone else but to us, that's home. That's our stuff,’ she said. On a nearby sidewalk, Al Palaces, a former truck driver who settled into the encampment about eight months ago, said he was trying to think of a plan. ‘I just grabbed whatever I could because I don't want to go to jail,’ he said, standing next to an overloaded shopping cart stuffed with dirty plastic bags. For months, social workers have been trying to resettle camp dwellers. And four days earlier, they were warned they had until dawn Thursday to leave or face arrest for trespassing. Still, city officials estimated about 60 people remained at the filthy site when cleanout day came. After a rainy night, skies cleared Thursday, and one person after another in varying states of mental clarity and sobriety hauled away their meagre belongings in suitcases, shopping carts and on bicycles through ankle-deep sludge. 
+28 Living in squalor: The square-mile camp was strewn with rotten food and pails of excrement, and crawling with rats 
+28 Ultimatum: Social workers have been trying to resettle camp dwellers for months. Four days earlier, they were warned they had until dawn Thursday to leave or face arrest for trespassing 
+28 What's next: Officials found shelter for about 10 residents Thursday. Many more refused the city's offers, citing concerns about safety at homeless shelters, their need to stay with pets and their dislike of sobriety rules 
+28 Displaced persons: One person after another in varying states of mental clarity and sobriety hauled away their meagre belongings in suitcases, shopping carts and on bicycles 
+28 Restoring the landscape: Heavy machinery will be used to fill in excavated areas where people had been living underground 
+28 Supporters: A few dozen protesters gathered at the site holding signs reading ‘Homeless people matter’ and ‘Stand with The Jungle’ By midmorning, dozens had reached the sidewalk, abandoning most of their possessions. But some still remained in the wooded slum. Valentine Cortes, who said he was a journeyman construction worker, said he had no plans to leave his makeshift shelter built into a steep, muddy slope. ‘I don't know why people got all chaotic today,’ he said. ‘We don't have to go.’ Asked about the warning that he could be jailed, Cortes shrugged, pet a 6-week old puppy in his palm and said, ‘Then I guess I'll be arrested.’ Dogs and cats still roamed the square-mile camp, some of them pets, others wild. Rats scurried through the muck. A few dozen protesters gathered at the site holding signs reading ‘Homeless people matter’ and ‘Stand with The Jungle.’ The encampment stands in stark contrast to the surrounding valley, a region that leads the country in job growth, income and venture capital. Palaces said he liked the Jungle better than the streets because people would bring food and police didn't bother the residents. ‘Even a job wouldn't give me a house’ because housing prices are so high, he said. Officials found shelter for about 10 residents Thursday, said San Jose homelessness response manager Ray Bramson. Many more refused the city's offers, citing concerns about safety at homeless shelters, their need to stay with pets and their dislike of sobriety rules. Several homeless-assistance groups also stepped in to help. HomeFirst, the largest provider to homeless people in Santa Clara County, set aside 27 beds at a nearby shelter. Another 50 beds are open in a separate cold-weather shelter. ‘This feels terrible,’ said Jenny Niklaus, HomeFirst's chief executive officer, her voice breaking. ‘People are up to their calves in the mud dragging their stuff into the street.’ 
+28 San Jose police tell two-year resident Johnny Valenzuela carrying a water jug to vacate his makeshift dwelling 
+28 Strange memento: A mask lies along a path at the camp in San Jose, not far from the headquarters of tech giants 
+28 After a rainstorm, residents of the camp walked barefoot in ankle-deep mud, dragging their suitcases and bags from the shantytown 
+28 Left with nothing: About 50 mud-splattered, angry men and women dragged their few worldly possessions out of their tents 
+28 Keeping the faith: A copy of the Bible sits in a pile of garbage during the massive cleanup operation 
+28 His own ten commandments: Enrique Avalos holds up a sign invoking Facebook, Hurricane Katrina and President Obama San Jose has spent more than $4million over the last year and a half to solve problems at the encampment and has housed some 135 people from the site. But it's become increasingly polluted and dangerous. In the last month, one camp resident tried to strangle someone with a cord of wire. Another was nearly beaten to death with a hammer. And state water regulators are demanding that polluted Coyote Creek, which cuts through the middle, get cleaned out. Personal property confiscated Thursday was to be stored for 90 days before being disposed of in March. The last time officials cleared out the camp was in May 2012, when about 150 people were sent away. But this time Bramson said they will conduct regular patrol to keep anyone from returning. Dismantling the Jungle is a massive job. It will take several days to haul out tons of garbage and debris. Heavy machinery will be used to fill in excavated areas where people had been living underground. For some, the sudden abandonment of so many improvised homes was a boon. 
+28 Homeless: More than 300 residents of the Silicon Valley shantytown known as 'The Jungle' had been given notices to leave the area by December 4. Grace Hilliard, pictured, stands outside her tent yesterday 
+28 Homeless: An unidentified woman walks along a muddy path at the Silicon Valley homeless encampment in San Jose, California Dau Nguyen muttered to himself as he picked through a trash heap, pausing to wash some of the items in an aluminum-foil bin. ‘I wait for somebody to leave,’ Nguyen said, ‘and then everything is mine.’ Jennifer Loving, executive director of Destination Home, who has been working to house homeless people in the area, warned residents they had to get out when she toured the camp last week - even though there was 'nowhere for them to go'. 'We don't have the housing. We can't magically create it.' 'There's nowhere for them to go,' she added. But Scott Wagers, a pastor who runs a support organization for the homeless, said the forced evacuation of what he described as 'a crime syndicate ruled by gangs, where the police do not enter', will lead the evicted to restore their camp elsewhere. He explained 'The Jungle' was developed two years after the evacuation of another slum in San Jose. 
+28 Makeshift: City officials plan to send in trash trucks and bulldozers to flatten homes and prevent homeless from re-entering the camp 
+28 Empty: A shirt with a morale-boosting message is placed atop mud and debris at the Silicon Valley homeless encampment 
+28 Excavated: Underground homes homeless people lived in will be filled in by Christmas, said San Jose city spokesman David Vossbrink He believes San Jose should give land for 'camping legally' and larger neighbors technology groups, including Apple, should donate in order 'to solve the problem for good. ' The city has one of the highest numbers of homeless people in the country and more than 5,000 sleep on the streets, in parks and under freeways in the area. A spokesman for the city of San Jose, David Vossbrink, said an 'urgent' evacuation was necessary, citing sanitation and safety concerns. When the camp is cleared out, a team will go through the hand-built structures and tents looking for cash, IDs or anything else of value. Those items will be sorted and stored for people to claim later. 
+28 Clear out: A man, who only goes by David, gulps down a drink at the homeless camp a stone's throw from the opulence of Silicon Valley 
+28 Dilapidated: A man pushes a cart filled with debris at the camp, which has been described as a 'crime syndicate ruled by gangs' | 
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