Hoarding - 30 cats seized
Tahlequah, OK (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, May 31, 2005
County: Cherokee
Disposition: Not Charged
Person of Interest: elderly man
30 cats were found recently inside a Tahlequah residence when neighbors near the residence at East and Maple began noticing a strong odor. They are all being spayed and neutered. "We're getting them cleaned up, and Bunny Lawrence is going to take them in."
"The neighbors noticed the smell, and they contacted the police," said Tahlequah Animal Control Officer Glyn Ryals. "[A police officer] went over there, but they couldn't really do anything about it. But then [one of the neighbors] called me. I went over there and look around, and I could hear cats in there."
Ryals said that, as he was looking around the residence, the owner arrived and explained the situation.
Evidently, the elderly owner and his wife lived at the residence until his wife died about six months ago. At that point, the owner moved out of the house, but kept the cats -- which his wife had taken care of -- at the residence. Ryals said the man continued to care for the cats because he felt that's what his wife would've wanted, but they became a bigger burden than he'd expected.
Ryals said the cats were kept in wooden cages, and had been cared for, but feces and urine had begun to collect on the floor -- thus the odor noticed by the neighbors.
"I don't think there was anything he or his wife did to make the cats suffer; he was even taking them to the vet," said Ryals. "But it just kind of caught up with him."
The cats were taken to Elliott's clinic, where they were neutered and spayed, and -- where necessary -- given haircuts.
"We're not doing show grooming," said Lawrence. "We're pulling out mats of hair."
The cats will join over 200 others that Lawrence has rescued (she feeds over 50 pounds of cat food each day), and anyone interested in adopting a cat can call her at 456-9304. References
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