Hoarding - 15 cats seized, 8 found dead
Sioux Falls, SD (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005
County: Minnehaha
Disposition: Not Charged
Abuser names unreleased
On September 14, Sioux Falls Animal Control Officer Wayne Fischbach was asked to remove two cats from a mobile home before it was demolished. It used to be part of the Skyview Mobile Home Park. He says, "We went in to get two cats and we ended up with five. From there we thought okay we're doing pretty good here, until we started looking some more and like I said up on the cabinets and the shelves it got a lot more extreme than what we expected."
Fischbach found 15 living cats, a strong smell of urine and feces and other disturbing scenes. He says, "In going through everything we found 8 deceased and then we found a skull of one, so it had been there for quite a while."
Fischbach says at times the odor was so overwhelming, he and a Sioux Falls Humane Society officer had to go outside. He says, "Everytime we moved one we could see the fleas coming off them. When we stepped out we had them, they were crawling up our pant legs, we could see them up to our knees."
Fischbach describes the cats as skinny and neglected. He says, "It was very bad. From my perspective, it looked like there hadn't been anyone living there for a while, it pretty much had been turned over to the cats."
No charges have been filed against the owner at this time. The Humane Society says the cats are not available for adoption. But the animals still have to be treated. The Humane Society is looking for donations of dry and canned kitten food, kitty litter or money for the medical care of the cats. References |
