Animal Humane Society rescues 71 cats

But this has to do with the Animal Humane Society. They announced this week that they rescued 71 cats from a severely unsanitary living environment. The ammonia levels in the structure were dangerously high, the cats had no access to water, and the cats were living among piles of trash, carpets of feces, and crumbling walls. Sarah Bimani with the Animal Humane Society joins us now. Sarah, thanks for making the time to speak to us today. Yeah, thanks for having me. Okay, tell me about these cats. How did you discover them and what conditions did you find them living in? Yeah, so last week we got a call from a concerned neighbor who was worried about cats in an abandoned dwelling on her neighbor's property. And one of our humane agents immediately went out to assess the situation. And then on Tuesday this week, our critical response team went out to the property and removed 71 cats from that property. So was there anyone caring for the cats? Did they have an owner at any time? Were they abandoned? What happened? Yeah, so the property owner was doing their best. They were trying to care for these cats. But as we see quite frequently in our work, people with good intentions quickly get overwhelmed. A few cats can quickly reproduce and become many, many cats. And so we worked with the property owner. They were very cooperative. They wanted the best for these cats and they signed over custody of the cats to us so that they could come to Animal Humane Society and get the care and love that they needed. What condition were these cats in when you received them? And what kind of medical care are they receiving now? Yeah, so they were very hungry. They're quite skinny. They didn't have any access to water, so they had some dehydration. You know, we see a lot of respiratory illnesses with this, so runny noses, runny eyes. Some of the cats do have some wounds, either from living outside or maybe other cat fights. So they're getting their medical exams right now as we speak and they'll get all of the necessary medical care that they need. All of them will need to be spayed or neutered before they're made available for adoption. Our behavior team will also examine all of the cats. You know, a lot of them are starting to come out of their shell and some of them are still pretty shy. So our behavior team will work with them to help them gain confidence before they head to adoption. Now, in a situation like this, are there any implications for the individual who the cats were under the care of? Yeah, so in this case in particular, I don't believe law enforcement was involved. You know, this was a concerned citizen who reached out for help. And so, you know, in those cases, we try to approach situations with no judgment, right? We're here to help. We know this person was trying to do their best and got overwhelmed. So, you know, we're really proud that we have the resources to go out and help community members and be a resource that others can rely on when they do get into situations like this. Is there any way to make sure that that individual doesn't get a pet again? Or do you guys follow up with the person to make sure that they haven't gone out and gotten more cats? So it always depends on the situation. You know, certainly we do stay in touch with folks that we work with. This individual, you know, also has a community that is aware of the situation and will be working with them as well. Other agencies tend to get involved as well. Okay, great. And how soon before these cats will be healthy enough to be up for adoption? Because it sounds like a lot of them are in pretty rough shape. Yeah, you know, some of the cats that are maybe more social, maybe don't have quite as severe medical issues, I would say probably within the next week or so, you might start seeing some come up to our adoption center, but certainly some of them will have a longer road. So definitely anybody interested in adopting should just keep an eye on our website. That's the best place to see when they'll be available. How does this compare to other cat hoarding, animal hoarding situations that you guys have responded to? Yeah, certainly the number of cats was quite high. You know, it's not the highest that we've ever seen, but certainly bringing in 71 cats requires all hands on deck. You know, we had to be really intentional about making space for them, ensuring that we had all of the supplies we needed to care for them. And, you know, I think in this case in particular, the ammonia levels inside the dwelling were some of the highest that we've seen. So our critical response team actually had full PPE on, including full face masks in order to operate safely in that property. Now, will you guys need to partner with other rescue groups? Because 71 cats is a lot of cats for you guys to take in in one day. Yeah, so, you know, in this case, we are able to care for all of those cats here at our Golden Valley Shelter. You know, we're really fortunate that we have the space and the resources to respond to large cases like this. Sometimes we do work with our rescue partners on cases, you know, when there's a lot of animals coming in or it's a really quick turnaround. You know, we're a small community. We have to lean on each other to help these animals in need. All right, Sarah with the Animal and Humane Society, I so appreciate you joining us today. Thank you.