Hoarding - 111 cats seized
Cedarburg, WI (US)Incident Date: Friday, Feb 22, 2008
County: Ozaukee
Disposition: Alleged
Case Images: 1 files available
Alleged:
» Carol A. Munden
» Michael Rossobillo
The Ozaukee Humane Society now has removed 111 cats from a house as the district attorney's office considers animal mistreatment charges against the homeowners, who contend they were doing their best to care for the animals.
The cats were discovered in squalid conditions on Feb. 21 by a utility worker who was checking a neighbor's report of a natural gas odor coming from the house. Dozens of cats were found, many of them sick. At least 15 cats had died in the house.
Humane Society officials believe the case is one of animal hoarding, a situation in which someone ends up having more animals than they can care for. There may be at least 10 more cats in the house, at N73-W6957 Walnut St. in Cedarburg, and the society is trying to capture them.
"We absolutely do consider that these people are animal hoarders because of the sheer number of animals and their inability to give the animals proper care," said Angela Speed, an Ozaukee Humane Society spokeswoman.
Last week, the Cedarburg Police Department asked the Ozaukee County district attorney to charge the homeowners with mistreatment of animals, a felony.
The department also wants the homeowners, Michael Rossobillo, 60, and his wife, Carol A. Munden, 58, to be charged with failure to provide proper shelter for animals, a misdemeanor.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office said that as of Thursday morning, the request for charges was being reviewed.
Ozaukee County Public Health Department staffers on Monday said the conditions of the house constituted a health hazard and gave the homeowners 30 days to clean and sanitize the house.
"The house needs to be cleared of all garbage and solid waste," said Dan Ziegler, the department's environmental health specialist. "We have a large number of cats that have been fiddling with the household items, which are not usable anymore."
Rossobillo, who moved out of the house three months ago, said he has tried to cooperate with the health department in cleaning. Munden left the house in March 2007.
"It got a little dirty, and it was nasty in the basement," Rossobillo said. "But (the cats) weren't mistreated. They weren't."
He also said he had little idea there were so many cats in the house.
Many of the cats had upper respiratory infections, said Randal Zeman, the Humane Society's veterinarian who has treated the cats. "There were too many cats together with bad conditions," he said.
The society says two of the rescued cats have been adopted and two more cats are available for adoption. And two other cats from the house have given birth to a total of nine kittens. References
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