Unhealthy animals seized there for second time in three years
MICHIGAN -- Felony warrants charging animal cruelty and neglect will be sought for a Battle Creek couple after 28 cats and two guinea pigs were removed from their house.
Battle Creek animal control officers said the action Tuesday was the second time in less than three years that more than two dozen cats had been seized from the same home.
On Wednesday a veterinarian checked each of the animals and said he found they had parasites, missing teeth and sores.
“I found they had poor weight, fleas and ear mites,” Dr. Dale Borders of Battle Creek said. “They were not getting fed properly.”
Battle Creek Animal Control Officer Mike Ehart said the house on South 24th Street was condemned after an inspection by the city and the couple were forced to leave.
“The ammonia smell from the cat urine was overwhelming,” Ehart said, “and we found feces on the floor, in the kitchen, on the refrigerator and the litter boxes were overflowing.”
He said the cats were fed Rice Krispies and tangerines, even though citrus is a repellant for cats, and the guinea pigs were in very small cages and were fed Honeycomb cereal.
Ehart said officers went to the house after a report from someone who had been inside.
“They were concerned for the cats and the people in the house,” Ehart said.
The residents would not voluntarily allow the officers inside so they obtained a search warrant and Ehart, Animal Control Officer Ronda Burgess and two other officers spent six hours at the home Tuesday.
All of the animals were taken to the Calhoun County Animal Shelter at 165 S. Union St. where Borders examined them on Wednesday.
Ehart said many of the cats also had upper respiratory diseases and skin conditions and they will be checked for other diseases.
Two of the cats were pregnant and another gave birth to three kittens about two weeks ago.
The animals will be kept at the shelter while the court process begins, including a forfeiture hearing. In the meantime the cost will be high for the shelter, said owner Sindy Buford.
She said the two hours of examinations Wednesday will cost $300 and each of the tests and vaccinations will be $23.
The shelter is always accepting donations but when they have a large number of animals the demand for supplies is high.
“We need lots of kitty litter, food and cleaning supplies,” she said, “and cash donations are always needed.”
She said the animals will be held at the shelter while the the case is pending. They could be placed in rescue shelters in Kent or Gratiot counties and most could eventually be adopted.
“We will adopt out as many as we can,” she said. “The bulk of them will find homes.”
In October 2010 police seized 26 cats from the house after smelling a strong odor of urine and feces.
The couple living in the house were allowed to keep five cats and were cited for unsanitary conditions and not having licenses.
Ehart said the couple soon began to accumulate more cats, either from litters born at the house or strays they brought inside.
Ehart said the number of cases of hoarding animals is growing. He can recall at least seven in the city in the last two years in Battle Creek and four more in other parts of Calhoun County.
“That is what we see in cases with this number of animals,” he said. “Many times it is a person who wants to rescue animals. They try to do something good but they get overwhelmed and then are scared to call anyone.”
He said animal control officers will try to help someone who has too many animals.
(LSJ.com - Jan 30, 2013)
