Wisconsin -- Delores Marti, 78, appears in court; surrenders the animals she was (allegedly) abusing and killing

WISCONSIN -- A Monroe woman who's accused of keeping dozens of cats in her home, both dead and alive, has agreed to transfer the cats to the Green County Humane Society.

Delores Marti, 78, appeared in court Friday. Her attorney had no comment after leaving court.

 

 

Authorities removed 42 dead cats from the freezer of Marti's home after finding 50 cats in the same home earlier in the week.

Authorities said that when they executed a search warrant on Thursday at a home in the 1100 block of 19th Street, 35 kittens and six adult cats were found in a freezer. They also found a dead cat in the garage. Two other cats were found alive and taken to the Green County Humane Society.

 

 

The home has been declared uninhabitable. Monroe assistant city attorney Craig Nolen said Marti's home has about $60,000 in damage. He said that if she doesn't have the house repaired, it will be razed.

 

Police said Marti has been cited repeatedly since 2010 (nearly 20 years of abusing cats). However, it appears they were never charging her with animal cruelty. Only citing her on county ordinance violations with orders to clean the THREE houses or demolish them. 

Police chief Fred Kelley called it a case of animal hoarding and said the home is a health hazard.

 

"Writing tickets in the past has not stopped the issue, we’re back here in a circle again," Kelley said. "The fact is that these animals, when we’ve recovered them from these residences, are not really cared for. They’re left in there to fend for themselves. I guess I would term it ‘loving them to death.’”

The recidivism rate for hoarders is 100% unless there is mandatory psychological counseling. This woman needs to get mental health counseling because she literally cannot stop herself. It is not healthy for her or animals to be living in squalor and she will continue to hoard cats unless she is forced to seek treatment to address the mental health aspect.

One of the 50 cats taken Monday had to be euthanized because of its poor condition, according to a news release. Kelley said they think some of the cats died because of the air conditions in the home.

(Channel3000 - Aug 19 2016)

Earlier:

• Wisconsin: Delores Marti, who was caught hoarding cats in 2012 and 2013, is found hoarding cats again
• Wisconsin: Delores Marti's three homes slated for possible demolition over cat hoarding
• Wisconsin: When cats suffered and died in Delores Marti's home, she put them in the freezer