Animal control officers remove 35 cats from house; more kittens born a day later

MICHIGAN -- Most animal hoarders have good intentions. In fact, the reason they end up with so many dogs or cats usually is because they have a great love for their pets.

The problem is that it doesn’t take long for the situation to get out of control, especially with cats because of their prolific breeding habits.

 

That apparently was the situation with a resident of the 1000 block of Cora, who after her recent death left behind 35 cats that were rescued Tuesday by Downriver Central Animal Control.

Aaron Bertera, lead animal control officer, said he was called in by family members who went to the house to clean it up, but could not do anything with the cats.

“Sadly, the woman spent so much time trying to keep the animals out of the shelter that they ended up here,” Bertera said. “Very few were fixed. Surprisingly, the house was in good condition for that many cats.”

One issue Bertera had to deal with was where to take so many cats.

The consolidated animal control operation takes in animals from Southgate, Wyandotte, Allen Park and Lincoln Park. The Downriver Central Animal Control Agency is set up so that surrendered or lost animals are taken to the Southgate facility, but are adopted out of the Wyandotte animal shelter, which is now known as the Wyandotte Animal Adoption Center.

 Bertera said the cats had to be taken to several shelters so as to not “completely overrun” any one particular shelter. He said Brownstown Township assisted in capturing them, but he also is working with the Wyandotte Animal Adoption Center, Brownstown Animal Control, Woodhaven Animal Control, and the Wyandotte-based rescue group Shelter to Home to house the cats and help place them.

 The rescued cats range in age from just a few days old to senior cats of about 22 years of age.

Demonstrating the feline practice of abundantly reproducing their species, one of the rescued cats gave birth to seven kittens on Wednesday.

Bertera said he and others involved in the rescue are still in the process of assessing the cats, some of which are socialized, others not so much.

He said that in cases of cats that can’t be socialized, they’re sometimes sent to rural areas to become barn cats. However, he said that probably is not practical with these cats because they have been raised indoors and may have limited abilities to catch mice and rats.

The hope, Bertera said, is to euthanize as few as possible.

For more information on how to adopt these animals, contact Downriver Central Animal Control at 1-734-246-1328.

(The News Herald - January 26, 2014)