'It's been three years of hell and smell' -- Neighbors relieved Waterford house being cleared of cats

NEW HAMPSHIRE -- Wendell Evans and his wife Pam spent the weekend watching the cleanup going on at his neighbor's filthy house where officials removed more than 25 cats and some dead ones on Friday.

"It's been three years of hell and smell and flies," said Wendell, who has lived next door since 1976.

The home in the 3000 block of Airport Road contained feces, mold, trash and "there appear to be dead animals, thousands and thousands of flies and possibly dead rodents," said Waterford Police Chief Daniel McCaw.

Township officials said the house is condemned and no one is permitted to live there. Oakland County officials secured a warrant through the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office to remove the cats Friday afternoon, said Doug Bradley, Waterford's director of building and engineering.

Pam Evans said Oakland County Animal Control staff set live traps to capture more cats inside the house Saturday and Sunday.

"They have more than 30 now," said Pam.

She said officials have to wear Haz-Mat clothing -- covered head to toe -- to go into the basement.

Pam is glad to see something done at the house, which is 30 feet from hers.

"It's best for the animals, and in the long run best for Kim (the woman who had been living at the house)," she said.

"The cats needed medical care. They don't deserve to live in that."

Officials are seeking a warrant for the cat owner's arrest on felony animal cruelty charges, McCaw said.

Pam Evans watched the 50-year-old resident she calls Kim leave in a police car Friday. "She put on a Haz-Mat suit before she got into a police car," Evans said. The suit was needed because of the cat urine odor, she said. "We always noticed it when she came here (to Evans' home)," she said. "She always stayed outside."

Police also mentioned the cat urine smell on the woman in their reports.

Wendell Evans said he complained to police about Kim a year ago.

"She'd get belligerent and nasty," he said. A township official would "write her up," said Evans, for the appearance of the home's exterior.

Evans said Kim even threw feces at a trailer he keeps in his yard.

"Our house has flies, we can't use our patio or cook outside because of the smell."

 Township officials said the next task is to get the interior of the house cleaned so the house's structural integrity can be evaluated, said Doug Bradley.

"Then a complete list of the work that is necessary to lift the condemnation order can be prepared," he said.

"The property owner, who does not live in Waterford, has committed to doing what is necessary to cleaning up the property."

(NH Register - April 30, 2012)