Hoarding - 23 cats seized, one found dead Petaluma, CA (US) Incident Date: Sunday, Oct 31, 2004 County: Sonoma Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Alleged: JoAnne Wheeler

Case ID: 4404 Classification: Hoarding Animal: cat View more cases in CA (US) Login to Watch this Case

Following months of complaints about odors, late-night fights, soiled lawns and even one biting, Petaluma animal control officers confronted JoAnne Wheeler at her Wynoochee Way home.

Beginning in November, the officers have made about a dozen attempts to contact the 53-year-old waitress. On March 3, one of them decided to keep his finger on her doorbell to see what would happen.

After five minutes of ringing, Wheeler came to the door and said, "Fine, take all the cats," said Jimmy Nunn, an animal control officer.

Wheeler defended herself in a brief interview. "All I did was feed them," she said before closing the door.

On her property in a well-maintained eastside neighborhood, the animal control officers found one dead cat wedged between a shed and the fence boards of the house next door. Another dead cat lay atop a pile of clothes near a washing machine in the garage.

It took a month to trap and remove the other 23 feral cats Wheeler had been feeding, said Nancee Tavares, director of Petaluma's Animal Services Division. Some of the cats were pregnant, Tavares said. In another year, Wheeler's cat collection could have easily quadrupled, she said.

Inspired in part by the Marilyn Barletta case, Petaluma modified its animal control ordinance to establish a limit of six cats, four dogs and 20 other animals per home. The ordinance also says anyone who feeds animals for more than 30 days is legally considered their owner, and is responsible for their care.

In December, Wheeler received an abatement order under the ordinance directing her to confine the cats to her property and to spay and neuter any cats older than four months before allowing them outside.

Dealing with the case has cost the city about $2,000 and may cost Wheeler $1,600 in fines if she is convicted of violating the abatement order. She is set to go before a judge next month.

Wheeler could have avoided trouble if she had cooperated with animal control officers, Tavares said, adding that her division has handled similar situations informally and people have avoided citations.

Wheeler told animal control officers that she worked and didn't have time to deal with the cats, Nunn said.

In a brief interview at her home, Wheeler said she didn't comply with the order to spay and neuter the animals because "I couldn't catch them."

If Wheeler had responded earlier, "we would have offered to help her," Tavares said. "We're not looking to catch people. We want to help them and correct the problem."

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References

The Press-Democrat - April 18, 2005

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