96 Cats removed from condemned home - Portsmouth, VA

Thursday, Jan 10, 2002

County: Portsmouth City

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Timothy Figler

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Timothy Figler, 51, and his wife rescued cats that were dumped near their home where Spratley Street ends and Scotts Creek begins. They both would bring the abandoned cats into their two bedroom home they shared with Timothy Figler's 90 year old mother-in-law.

Figler said, "All I was trying to do was help the children. Help the cats. We see one cat out here and we have to get hold of it."

They had been collecting cats for six years, Timothy Figler was beginning to think they had too many. Last week the city authorities came, condemned the house, took away the cats they were able to capture which was 96 of them.

Forty-nine of the sickest cats were put to sleep. Animal lovers have sent in thousands of pounds of cat food and kitty litter to the Portsmouth Humane Society where the healthy cats are receiving care.

Rose Dew, animal control division supervisory, sent to the Spratley Street house and found a home smelling strongly of feline feces and urine, cat droppings littered the house and lots of cats running around inside the house. The cats they captured sneezed and coughed, they had runny eyes and noses, were wet from urine or another liquid.

Dew and her coworkers spent 14 hours working in the home and still did not remove all the cats.

Dew said, "It has been more than I have seen in a long time." She has worked with animal control more than five years.

Timothy Figler didn't notice how many cats were living in his home. He only knew the animals were dropped off and the strays that wandered into their home were being cared for. If the cats were sick, he gave them over the counter antihistamine. He didn't notice the chaos, only recently did they pay attention to the fact they were spending $150 a week on cat food. It was just a few weeks before authorities arrived they discovered they were spending $150 a week feeding their cats.

Figler's mother-in-law was taken to the Portsmouth Naval Regional Medical Center because the authorities feared for her health due to the unsanitary conditions within the home. She is staying in the hospital because they found a condition that needs medical attention. The medical condition isn't due to living in a house overrun with cats.

The home has been condemned, so Figler is sleeping in his car. He cannot stay in the condemned home but he is working nonstop disinfecting, painting and repairing his home in the hopes to get it back into living order. He hopes it will pass a partial inspection by city officials and he will eventually be able to move back into his home.

The city has a legal limit of five dogs per household but no limit on the number of cats as long as they are properly cared for and receive vaccinations.

Figler says he doesn't think he's done anything wrong. If this happens again, he will call animal control when bags of cats start to reappear. He is trying to get back his three pets, Lil Bit, Blackie and Maxx and hopes he can adopt more of his "children" when they become available on Jan 22. He has said, "I'm hurt, really, because they're all gone. Like a child who grows up an goes to college, you miss them."

Case Updates

Timothy Figler, 51, faced 93 counts of inadequate care of animals and a violation of a city ordinance on caring for pets. He could have been fined up to $23,500. He has been fined $6,200 on March 6, 2002 for keeping more than 93 cats in filthy conditions in his two-bedroom home. Jan 10, police removed 96 cats from his Spratley Street house. The one story dwelling was littered with cat droppings and smelled of feces and urine. Judge Morton Whitlow fined Figler $50 for the violation and each of the 93 counts, but suspended $40 of that fine for each count. After the court costs and a fee to the Portsmouth Humane Society, Figler must pay approximately $66 per cat. Cats were dumped near his home or they were strays that found their way to his door. Figler and his wife were not aware of how many cats they had on their property until the authorities came to inspect his home.

Source: The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk - Mar 6, 2002 Update posted on Aug 2, 2008 - 9:49PM

References

• The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk - Jan 15, 2002

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