The discovery of a house full of abandoned, dead and starving cats likely is the worst case of its kind in Benzie County's history, authorities said.
"These things had been in there for at least a week with no water, no food,� sheriff's Detective Tom Whale said. "They were eating each other. It was terrible.�
County authorities responded to a residence at 14810 Brownell Road in Homestead Township around 8 a.m. June 11 after a neighbor complained of a rancid odor emanating from the home.
When they arrived, authorities found roughly 60 abandoned cats and kittens, some already dead, some barely alive.
"Just trying to get up to the rear slider of the house, it made you want to vomit. It was just solid feces and dead cats everywhere. It was horrendous,� Whale said. "It was so bad that you had to put on tanks with breathing apparatuses to go in the house.�
Sheriff's officials were working Tuesday to contact former homeowners Todd Bukowiecki, 38, and Jane Bishoff, 52, to question them in an animal cruelty case. Detectives believe the suspects lost the three-bedroom ranch home to foreclosure and left the animals behind.
"There is tons of probable cause of animal cruelty, which is a felony,� Whale said Tuesday. "I imagine that I will be able to take the reports to the prosecutor today.�
Benzie County Animal Control Officer Danny Bartley is working with local veterinarians to treat the surviving animals after a hazardous material team spent the entire day Monday clearing the house. Forty-one live cats were removed and eight of those were euthanized the same day, Bartley said.
"The cats that were euthanized, those cats couldn't stand. They pretty much stumbled and fell on their face any time they tried to walk,� Bartley said. "The cause of their symptoms are yet to be determined.�
Bartley said the remaining cats are in quarantine and it could take several days to determine which ones will survive. Those that do will be offered for adoption when they recover.
"A lot of them are thin. Some of them are really, really, weak to the point we have to put the water bowls right up to them. There is a lot of open wounds ... ear mites and fleas,� Bartley said. "With the amount of feces and maggots, and the decomposed carcasses they were feeding on, it is hard to believe they could live in those conditions.
"In a perfect world they would all get healthy and be able to find a home, but that may not be the case.� Case UpdatesTo send a letter to the prosecutor in this case, write to:
The Honorable Anthony J. Cicchelli
P.O. Box 377
Beulah, MI 49617
Phone: 231-882-0043
Fax: 231-882-0559 | | Update posted on Jul 16, 2007 - 5:44AM |
A plea deal is unlikely for a Benzie County couple who allegedly left about 60 cats in a house to fend for themselves, the county prosecutor said.
Todd J. Bukowiecki, 38, and Jane E. Bishoff, 51, each are charged with 10 misdemeanor counts of animal neglect. They were arrested in June after authorities responded to a neighbor's complaint and discovered dead and starving cats at the couple's former home on Brownell Road in Homestead Township.
Bukowiecki and Bishoff are scheduled to go to trial on Aug. 6.
Jeffrey Slocombe, attorney for both defendants, said the two lost their house to foreclosure but did not stop caring for the animals.
In a July 3 letter to Benzie Prosecutor Anthony Cicchelli, Slocombe asked the prosecutor to consider reducing the charges.
"Your offer sucks and is rejected,� Slocombe wrote. "My clients would plead to two counts each with a recommendation of no jail time. In a world without media, you know that would be the appropriate plea agreement. They had people dropping cats off at their front door because they never wanted to turn any away and they had called a number of animal control shelters who told them they would not take them.
"They were making an effort to place them. Finally, please remember that you can't neglect a dead cat. Has anyone done any necropsies on these animals? I think given this, my offer is fair,� Slocombe continued.
Cicchelli said he has offered no plea deal and has no plans to do so.
"I'm not going to go anywhere on those charges,� he said.
Slocombe said his letter to Cicchelli outlined points he will make at trial but he declined to comment on possible plea negotiations. Slocombe said he didn't intend for the correspondence to become public.
The list of parties receiving copies of the letter includes a notation that reads "record eagle-just kidding.� Slocombe said the reference was a private joke between him and Cicchelli about the prosecutor's sometimes adversarial relationship with the Record-Eagle.
Slocombe recently was cleared to practice law after the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board suspended his law license for 90 days effective Feb. 22, 2007. The board found Slocombe notarized an affidavit that contained the purported signature of his client but in fact was signed by someone other than his client. | Source: Record-Eagle - July 13, 2007
Update posted on Jul 16, 2007 - 5:40AM |
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