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Case Snapshot

Case ID: 17805

Classification: Hoarding, Neglect / Abandonment

Animal: cat

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21 sick cats abandoned, euthanized
Nashua, NH (US)

Incident Date: Wednesday, Apr 27, 2011
County: Hillsborough

Disposition: Open
Case Images: 2 files available

Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!

This is not a story with a happy ending, but Humane Society workers hope it can save, or at least improve, the lives of some local animals.

Humane Society for Greater Nashua workers had to euthanize 21 severely diseased cats aged 6 weeks to almost a year old after the animals were dropped off outside the Humane Society's Ferry Road facility Wednesday evening.

The felines were suffering horribly from a virus that had long gone untreated and caused lesions on their faces, eyes and tongues, and severe dehydration. Some had lost one or both eyes because of the virus and teeth because of terrible infections. Others had pneumonia so badly they couldn't walk and had trouble breathing. All of them were emaciated to one degree or another.

"The cats and the kittens were all in extremely poor health conditions," said Tammy DeVito, the Humane Society's director of animal care. "The medical conditions were horrendous. It appears they had a severe virus that has been untreated for some time."

DeVito was one of the two people who assessed each of the doomed kittens and later killed them when it became clear there was no way to help them.

"We were hoping that some of them would be in better shape, but that wasn't the case. Euthanasia was really our only option," she said. "There was really nothing that we could do."

DeVito is reaching out to whomever dropped off the animals in three RubberMaid bins because she fears they have other animals that need help.

"We're concerned that there may be other animals in this person's home because these animals are all young," DeVito said. "We would really like to reach out to these people to offer some assistance because obviously other animals in the house are probably equally ill."

DeVito said the help can be given anonymously, which is probably a better option than police intervention.

"It would definitely be better for them to contact us than for the police to track them down. That would be just between us and them," she said.

Nashua police Lt. Raymond McDannell said police are on the case and could pursue misdemeanor cruelty to animal charges, depending on how successful they are.

"There is an active investigation to hopefully find the person who dropped these cats off," McDannell said. "We have very limited information, but what we do have we're going to pursue and see what we come up with."

McDannell said a neighbor spotted a suspicious person pull into the Humane Society driveway around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday with the headlights off. The neighbor said the vehicle looked like an SUV and was possibly red.

The person left the three plastic bins about halfway up the driveway and then left, McDannell said.

Anyone with information should call Nashua police at 603-594-3500 or the Nashua Crime line at 603-589-1665.

The Humane Society for Greater Nashua can be reached at 889-2275 or

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