Mar 28, 2009 7:05 am US/Eastern
House Of Filth: Nearly 100 Cats Found In NJ Home
SPCA Officials Stunned After 2 Feet Of Feces Found In Room Of House Located In Million-Dollar Community
Officers Say It's One Of The Worst Cases Ever Reported
CHESTER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) ―
One New Jersey SPCA official said it was probably the worst case he's ever seen.
Nearly 100 cats and one dog were found Thursday living in a home in a million-dollar neighborhood in Morris County.
SPCA spokesman Matthew Stanton said there was 2 feet of feces in one room of the home on Farm Road in Chester Township. Investigators wore masks to help them breathe through the stench of urine, Stanton said.
"The conditions were absolutely horrific - there wasn't one inch of the house that wasn't covered in feces or urine," SPCA Lt. Rick Yocum says. "There were three foot piles of feces in the hallways.
"It was one of the worst houses I've ever entered into," Yocum says.
Twenty felines were taken to a veterinarian on Thursday. The remaining animals were expected to be removed Friday.
"These people are not horrible people - their lifestyle went out of control," Yocum says. "She's obviously a hoarder."
"For
hoarders, the animal is the most important thing," SPCA Superintendent Frank Rizzo says. "More important than their own health."
The SPCA will spend the next two weeks finding homes for the remaining 70 cats still inside, while these rescued cats are being treated for upper respiratory problems.
Oughton has been charged with 93 counts of improperly sheltering an animal. Investigators say they don't want any jail time because they realize this was simply a good deed that got out of hand.
For anyone interested in adopting any of the cats, visit the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at
www.njspca.org.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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