3 Feet of Feces Dug Up in Home of 130 Cats
MILWAUKEE - Cats were literally coming out
of the walls of this south side home.
Last week, Milwaukee police found 130 felines and a dog in house
where trash and cat feces was found up to 3 feet deep.
Inspectors came to the house last week after neighbors complained
about smells coming from the three-bedroom house. When they arrived,
they found the sinks and bathtubs filled with cat food. The cats had
crawled into the walls, ducts and ceilings, said Donn Jacobson, an
animal control officer for the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control
Commission.
The cats drank water from the house's three toilets and a leaky
basement pipe, he said.
The house has been condemned by the city and may have to be razed.
The house's owner died in 1997, but the woman's adult son returned
regularly to feed the animals, said Martin Collins, head of the
Department of Neighborhood Services.
"Once the cats breed inside the walls, its economically impossible
to clean it up," Collins said. "You can imagine what's inside those
walls, and what the house is going to smell like forever."
Jacobson has been trudging through the house twice a day for a
week, luring cats into metal cages baited with canned tuna.
"I'm hoping it will end soon," he said. "I'm sick of coming down
here."
The cats and the dog all appear to be healthy and have been
transported to an animal control facility until authorities can figure
out what to do with them, said John McDowell, a field commander for
the animal control agency.
The rescue smashes the city record of 82 removed from a home in the
late 1980s, Collins said. |