Hoarding 116 cats
Clearwater, FL (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Apr 4, 2007
County: Pinellas
Disposition: Not Charged
Person of Interest: Jennifer Casquico
Over 100 cats were seized from a Union Avenue home in Clearwater on April 4. Bill Lamontagne was friends with the homeowner. He says she's a good person, trying to do good, and this is just a sad situation where everything went horribly out of control.
"It's just one of those things where they think they're doing right and they're doing wrong all the time," he offered.
Seven officers from Animal Services and the SPCA methodically went through the woman's house removing cat after cat.
After leaving bait outside Wednesday night, animal control workers were out again Thursday looking for more cats at the home of Jennifer Casquico, a 57-year-old postal worker who lived a quiet life with her elderly mom and the hoard of cats.
She was Baker Acted rather than placed under arrest for hoarding animals.
She lived with her mother who is in her nineties. The mother was taken away by authorities too, and their house has been condemned.
Animal Services and the local SPCA will be dividing up all the cats that survive the ordeal.
"I see a vast problem with the health of the majority of all of them. Some of them are very underweight, their eyes, well, they don't look good, and their nose is dripping, and they don't look very healthy," offered Linda Britlin with Animal Services.
Lamontagne says - in hindsight - he wishes he'd done something.
"I think it's a very sad situation. I think it's something that should have been done a long, long time ago," he said.
"There are people that start with very good intentions. They start out with several kitties, and they love them, they feel sorry for them, and they want a few more, and then somewhere along the line, it goes into excessive collection of these animals," said Britlin.
The refrigerator was found empty - except for some cat droppings. However, the felines were fed well.
Even the van out front contained a can of Friskies.
"It's sad because her intent is right, you know what I mean?" offered Lamontagne.
Investigators seem to agree, telling local news it's unlikely Casquico will face criminal charges for animal cruelty.
If she's found mentally competent, she could fight to have the cats returned. But the county will try to convince her to sign them over to animal services for adoption to others.
A judge will ultimately decide her fate.
If she's ruled mentally unstable, Florida law says the state can place her in a mental institution for as long as six months. References« FL State Animal Cruelty Map
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