38 cats found starving, abandoned in home
Staten Island, NY (US)Incident Date: Monday, Nov 1, 2010
County: Richmond
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Bill Reilly
The cats were hiding in every room, in the cupboards and under the furniture.
And there was the odor - a stench so awful, neighbors downwind in Great Kills could smell it.
When animal rescue volunteers cleared out 115 Armstrong Ave. at the beginning of the week, they found 38 cats, half of them feral, living amid piles of filth and excrement, with no food or water.
"It was kind of overwhelming," said Michelle Christofilakes of Staten Island Hope Animal Rescue. "They're very, very skinny. And they looked very traumatized. I think they were a week without food. ... Some were pregnant. One had kittens already."
Until last month, the house was occupied by Bill Reilly, 70, a longtime community volunteer and mainstay in veterans' and Irish-heritage groups across the Island.
Reilly's landlord, Eleftherios (Terry) Theodorakis of Midland Beach, said he first learned about the cats after another tenant in the building died in August.
Reilly found another place to live, and moved out around Oct. 15, leaving the cats to fend for themselves, Theodorakis said.
"The cats took over the house," Theodorakis said. "I don't understand it, I really don't."
On Wednesday, Theodorakis was tearing out floorboards and wall panels in an attempt to get rid of the stench. Even so, the smell of excrement remained potent both inside and outside the house. He expects the work will cost him thousands of dollars.
At least two cats could be seen wandering about Wednesday - one hid under a Dumpster, another ran back into the house, spurring Theodorakis to chase it into a bathroom. On Thursday, four cats were still running loose on the property, he said, and rescue workers had set up traps to capture them.
When contacted by the Advance yesterday, Reilly said of the cats, "They just multiplied."
He then said he was too busy to speak further.
Reilly, whose wife died in 2003, lived in his half of the two-family home on Armstrong for at least two decades, public records show. Theodorakis said Reilly has always been the "perfect gentleman" and an ideal tenant, and up until a few years ago, had two cats in the house.
"He's a great guy, except for the cats," he said.
Both the landlord and neighbors told the Advance they complained to the ASPCA, but got no relief.
However, ASPCA spokesman Joseph Pentangelo said the agency received only one anonymous complaint, for "emaciated canines," and found that complaint to be unfounded.
Theodorakis said he heard of Staten Island Hope Animal Rescue from staff at an Island PetSmart.
Ms. Christofilakes' group is temporarily housing the cats with foster families, and is trying to find permanent homes for them. The feral cats will be fixed, she said, and will likely end up in colonies.
Still, she characterized her group as small, relatively new and overwhelmed by the undertaking. Ms. Christofilakes donated $300 to defray some of the cost of the rescue, but she's reaching out to other groups, including the ASPCA, for help.
No laws limit the number of pets a person can have in his or her home, but hoarding, in some cases, can be prosecuted under the state's animal cruelty law.
Every year, 500,000 animals nationwide fall victim to what experts call animal hoarding, defined as keeping an unmanageable number of pets in an unsanitary environment. In New York City, rescue groups identify approximately 100 new cases each year, according to the Fund for Public Health New York. Some of those cases have involved more than 60 animals in a single residence. References |
