Hoarding, about 150 cats on property
Houston, AK (US)Incident Date: Sunday, Jun 30, 2002
County: Matanuska Susitna
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Sunny L. Radebaugh
Sunny Radebaugh, 57, says she didn't ask for so many cats. It all started when Radebaugh pulled a half drowned kitten from the Little Susitna River near her home five years ago. Radebaugh's mother who has Alzheimer's disease had a heating pad on her lap, so she placed the kitten on her mother's lap to warm up.
Sunny said, "My mom comes out of this stupor and goes 'Oh, you're lost too.'"
When Radebaugh saw how her mother responded to the kitten. She started luring the stray cats onto her porch with food. She put up fliers and spread the word.
"I've in in my driveway and seen people throw cats out of the window, hit reverse and go. I've found boxes on my porch."
When Radebaugh lived in Seward she also had 36 cats running loose and breeding freely in an old bus parked in her yard. All the cats contracted a form of feline herpes and had to be destroyed at considerable cost to the city.
Radebaugh moved to Houston and started keeping cats inside her home. She kept cats in the basement, living room, bedrooms, bathrooms and in a bedroom closet.
After Radebaugh had accumulated many more cats, she started keeping them in outdoor pens covered by tarps, in cages, and airline pet carriers.
The next door apartment complex was being run over by so many cats. The tenants from the apartment complex started complaining about the smell, fights, and lots of hungry cats lurking around looking for food.
The cats have become a nuisance to the apartment complex. One day the manager of the apartment complex said she was carrying groceries inside and by the time she got back for the second load, a cat had jumped in her car, torn into a bag and was munching on a piece of chicken.
Radebaugh thinks it is the feral cats which are causing all the problems in the neighborhood. "I'm getting blamed for everybody else's irresponsibility."
Sue Wirth, Alaska Humane Society, said she was alarmed by the lack of medical care, including spaying and neutering, rampant ear mites, no testing for feline leukemia and other potentially disastrous diseases. Some of the cages were so small the cats could barely stand up or lie down unless it was partly in the tiny litter boxes.
Wirth said, "I was horrified. She does not have the facility or the knowledge to be running something like this. Sure, they're alive, but the quality of life is dismal."
The outdoor cats must go. The city sent Radebaugh giving her 30 days to make significant progress toward compliance or the matter will be turned over to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough for enforcement.
Radebaugh has stated she will fight this thing "to the wall." She will fight for the feral cats as well.
"They're not MY cats. But I'll stand up for them because I don't think they should be killed. If I have take these cats, go find a piece of property and sit there with cats in a camper until I can find a safe place for them, I will." References
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