The homeowner, identified as Charles Gonnell, 62, was not home when the search warrants were executed, but he is facing charges of extreme animal cruelty and codes violations, officials said.
Dr. Patricia Norris, a full-time veterinarian on staff with the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Department, said she examined the cats and found that all of them suffered from a combination of skin diseases, upper respiratory infections and ulcerated mouths.
Norris euthanized nine cats because of the pain and suffering associated with their extremely poor health.
"All of the cats were suffering quite a bit," Norris said. "These conditions are hard to treat, and most would likely not recover at this stage of illness."
The sheriff's investigators, members of the department's Animal Cruelty Task Force, obtained two warrants Thursday after receiving a tip of animals being hoarded at a house in the 500 block of Amparo Road in Chaparral, said Kelly Jameson, a spokeswoman with the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators who served the first warrant at 10 a.m. Thursday found a kitten on the porch of the house that was lethargic, disoriented and had a large amount of discharge seeping from its eyes and nose.
A second warrant allowed investigators to enter the home, where the 52 cats were located and seized, Jameson said.
Thursday's investigation is the second in as many months that Doña Ana County sheriff's investigators have brought animal cruelty charges against someone for allegedly hoarding animals.
Last month, authorities charged Jack Catlan, 60, with 33 counts of animal cruelty, 17 counts of failure to provide proof of rabies vaccination and 17 counts of having an intact animal without a permit, among other charges.
PAST OFFENSES
On April 24, authorities seized 25 poodle-mix dogs, and as many as 100 chickens and ducks from Catlan's property off Fairacres Road.
In 2007, sheriff's department investigators also removed 125 animals from Catlan's propery, but that case was dismissed after a judge ruled that prosecutors did not take the case to trial in time.
In recent years, local investigators have investigated several other animal hoarding cases, such as in 2010, when Las Cruces animal control officers removed two skinny dogs and hundreds of large, feral rats from an East Mesa home.
Dr. Beth Vesco-Mock, director of the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley, said most hoarding cases occur when the animals reproduce so quickly that they overwhelm even responsible pet owners.
"Very few people intend to have that many dogs, cats or whatever," Vesco-Mock said.
"In just eight months, you can go from having four cats to 23, and then it just spirals out of control.
The owners don't know what to do and don't know who to go to. It's a disaster. It's a sad situation."
Vesco-Mock advised anyone in such a situation to contact the shelter and have their pets spayed or neutered.
"This is a horrible problem and we need to help these people," Vesco-Mock said.
(Las Cruces Sun - June 22, 2012)
