neighbours

Someone in my street got done today for cat hoarding.
One little cottage like mine -- two people -- eighty cats.
RSPCA and police came about 10 o'clock. It made the WIN news. That's all I know.
Update: I have full accounts of the rescue now from several neighbours; that's kind of sweet. It also made the Canberra Times:

RSPCA workers said they felt upset and nauseous after rescuing 49 cats from a Queanbeyan house yesterday. The RSPCA plans to prosecute the cats' owner, a middle-aged man, on animal cruelty charges.

It was the biggest animal seizure in the RSPCA's 55-year history in the region and there are up to 30 more cats still hiding in the house and garden at xxxx Street.

The RSPCA's manager of shelter services for the ACT, Lorraine Hamilton, was one of the first people to enter the house yesterday.

"It was a horrendous situation as we opened the door," she said...

Mrs Hamilton said there appeared to be no way for the cats to leave the house and there were piles of faeces 20cm deep. Mrs Hamilton said she did not see any food left out for the cats, who were sitting on shelves and under chairs due to a lack of space. Some of the cats had ringworm, cat flu or feline AIDS (feline immunodeficiency virus) and would have to be euthanased, she said...

RSPCA ACT chief executive Michael Linke said the cats were discovered when their owner was evicted from his house on Thursday night for defaulting on his mortgage payments.

It is believed the man lived in the house with his female partner.

The man will be interviewed by police over the next few days and might be charged with animal cruelty offences, which carry a maximum penalty of five years' jail or a $55,000 fine. Neighbours said they had no idea there were so many cats in the modest two-bedroom home.

An xxxx Street resident, who did not want to be named, said she thought there were only six cats in the house. There was a strong cat smell when passing by the house.

I feel nauseous / guilty, as you do, for not being more attuned to it.

Meanwhile, a cat who is nourished, supported, and given the respect that allows her to explore the interface between felinity and human-ness (without a lounge-room knee deep in catshit impeding her investigations) has taught herself to do this:



Go, Nora!