CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #3667 Rating: 3.3 out of 5
37 cats severely neglected, beaten
Belleville, NJ (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Mar 31, 2004
County: Essex
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Joyce Nankervis
Joyce Nankervis was a woman popular in cat clubs, cat shows, etc. After she suffered a heart attack, her friend called Just Cats of NJ to get the cats out, but did not say much on the phone other than it was a critical situation.
When Just Cats arrived, they allegedly discovered piles of feces in the residence. No furniture just filthy stagnant cat crates and cages. They allegedly found cats in cages with no food, water or litter - sitting in their own feces.
Cats were also reportedly hiding in the ceiling and cats caged in the basement. The basement floor reportedly had about 3 inches of rotting stagnant water on it and there was a cat in a cage with nothing else on that floor just sitting in that water. Just Cats of NJ workers describe the small as one that "could knock you out."
Veterinarians confirmed that some of the cats were burned. According to Just Cats, the cats were intentionally starved so they would not defecate. Her motto was "nothing in, nothing out" As they looked around the house they allegedly found 100's of cremation boxes, never opened, with the names and ages of the deceased cats, they all were in the age bracket of 5 yrs old.
According to the womans friend, this had been going on for 20 yrs. She would beat the cats to death and then have them cremated. She repeatedly beat the cats with a metal pipe, of which was used as evidence for her case. They were thrown against the wall, kicked, the friend said she would go into fits of rage and start punching and kicking any cat in her path. At least half of them were hospitalized immediately, the rest were nursed back to the health slowly by Just Cats.
There were not many who ever recovered from their GI issues - Just Cats was told since the starvation was so severe and for such an extended period of time, there would be permanent damage and they would suffer from things such as chronic explosive diarrhea, IBS, stomach cancer, etc.
Donald, one cat who stole their hearts, was a severely emaciated cat they found huddled in a corner. He had a fractured skull, brain damage from the pipe beatings and to this day has not known what it is to defecate normally and without discomfort. According to Just Cats, a week before they were called, Joyce had beaten his brother Ronald to death.
One year earlier the health department of Belleville had to respond to a complaint made about Joyce, at which point they ordered her to get rid of the 30 cats she had, because she was over the limit of 4 cats per household in that town. According to reports, she then proceeded to her vet and had them all euthanized.
In the following year, she accumulated 37 more cats some from the very vet who had just euthanized all her previous cats - and the town of Belleville allowed her to license 20+ cats in the yr 2004, despite the fact that the limit is only 4. References« NJ State Animal Cruelty Map
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