50 Cats living in home, starving & flea ridden
Brigantine, NJ (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, Oct 14, 2003
County: Atlantic

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Larry Weber

Larry Weber, 44, of 307 East Brigantine Avenue has been charged with 52 counts of animal cruelty when 50 cats were found living in his home. Many of the cats were starving, dehydrated and flea infested.

Weber has agreed to surrender the cats to an animal cruelty investigator who went to his home on Oct 14 after a mail carrier reported a strong smell of urine coming from the residence.

There were five dead cats found in Weber's home.

If convicted, Weber could face $1,000 for each count of animal cruelty and as many as six months in jail.

The animal cruelty investigator for the Atlantic County branch of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is recommending jail time.

The original number of 120 animal cruelty charges has been lowered to 52 after the prosecutor spoke to Leah Whitesell, Atlantic County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

When Weber was fired from his job as a bar porter for the Sands Casino Hotel after the story was reported. He is also being evicted from the duplex.

Eight of the cats taken from the home had to be euthanized because of upper respiratory infections and other aliments. Some were placed in shelters through the state or adopted.

There are still 11 cats that need to be adopted.

When investigators first went to Weber's home, they were met with a pungent smell of cat urine mixed with smells of cat feces and animal decomposition coming from the only open window and a rear door of the home.

Inside the home there were cats running across the grimy flloor. Newspapers and empty boxes of food littered the floor. Only three cans of cat food were in the cabinet.

Whitesell said all the cats came from one pregnant cat Weber had in 1995.

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