http://www.nbc4.com/news/4710148/detail ... c&psp=news
Police find 246 cats at Virginia home!!
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streetsoldier
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kevin
Obviously these people are mentally ill. The term used for someone like this is "animal collector". As a former animal control officer, I can tell you this is more common than you might think. It is also more likely to be an elderly person who does this. Nobody in their right state of mind would live like this. Unfortunately, it is the poor animals that pay the price, and instead of requiring that the animal collector get psychiatric help, (Jail time for an "80 something widow" would be highly unlikely) they just fine them and take their animals. Even though they are almost always prohibited by the judge from owning any more animals, the repeat offense for these people is high.
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TexasStooge
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There may be more than 246 cats in that same home.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... dd_cats_dc
STILL such a sickening story.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... dd_cats_dc
STILL such a sickening story.
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HurricaneGirl
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But you can almost see how it happens...
What starts off as a nice, controlled, "cat lady" grows older and stuff becomes totally out of control.
When I was in my mid 30s, at a couple of points our cat population got way out of control--and I did the "inhumane" thing of taking a bunch of the SPCA. We owned two cats. A friend died and we took his cats. A friend had a heart attack and had 3 cats, which we took "temporarily" while she was in the hospital--but during that period of time one of her cats had kittens and suddenly we had 12 cats in the house and two neighborhood strays coming around to eat. We took the kittens to the SPCA. We gave back the 3 adult cats (but not after spending a bunch of money on them at the vet). We were down to 3 cats. Then another friend died, leaving 6 more cats. We found homes for all 6. And again, we were back to our originl 3. But I will say that for several years, we seemed to be the cat drop-off for our city/county! It was totally obnoxious and had we been older, less aggressive, less hard-hearted, etc. we might have ended up like the "cat woman."
All 3 of our original cats have since died of old age (age 20, age 21, age 19 for the 3 cats) and we have staunchly resisted getting more cats as right now we can't take care of them--but I will say that we are pressured to take cats at least once a month... And so, yes, I can understand that someone who is a little more soft-hearted than I would quickly end up with a geometrically increasing population of cats! And you'd be amazed at how the reputation grows--people used to drop off all sorts of cats, dog, other animals on my mother's porch! It was simply amazing! She, too, fought long and hard to avoid being one of those "cat ladies." I feel sort of sorry for them because I can see how it happens. You really don't want to be carting off cats to the SPCA every week. Besides, the SPCA people treat you like garbage! They think that it is somehow deliberate on your part that someone dumped a pillowcase full of kittens in your driveway at midnight or that your friend's cat came to your house and promptly had 6 kittens.
There is one other factor that I don't understand at all--but we have also had the experience (and it is almost life long as it used to happen to my mother as well) of totally random stray animals who have been badly injured in fights with other animals, by cars, etc. to somehow crawl up on OUR porch to seek some sort of shelter or to die or something. More calls to SPCA/animal control, etc. Why do they somehow pick us? I don't know, but it is an odd phenomenon...
My funniest (because it has a "good" ending) concerned a skunk rather than a cat. But the skunk "acted like" a cat. I was sitting in the kitchen when I heard scratching on the screen door (like a cat). I got up to look and it was a skunk. As I approached, it turned and walked a couple of steps and then looked over its shoulder as cats do when they want you to follow them. I went and sat back down and the skunk came back and scratched on the door. This happened 3 times and finally, against my better judgment, I followed the skunk, and it led me to my neighbor's garbage cans. There was crying inside the can. I did not, of course, want to touch or even go near a skunk, so I put the can on its side and the skunk went in and got the baby skunks out of the can. The skunk never sprayed me, but I worried about it the whole time... Why me? Why not the neighbor?
But there is something about us that makes animals seek us out--and it is not our doing. And I can imagine that some of the same thing happens to those cat ladies--except that perhaps they initially think they can somehow cope with the cats and then the cat population gets way out of hand!
But I can say that it is difficult to be hard-hearted and pick up the phone and call "animal control" or the SPCA instead of just taking them in... It goes against all my instincts, but my common sense tells me that that is what I must do... I really do NOT want to become a cat lady....
What starts off as a nice, controlled, "cat lady" grows older and stuff becomes totally out of control.
When I was in my mid 30s, at a couple of points our cat population got way out of control--and I did the "inhumane" thing of taking a bunch of the SPCA. We owned two cats. A friend died and we took his cats. A friend had a heart attack and had 3 cats, which we took "temporarily" while she was in the hospital--but during that period of time one of her cats had kittens and suddenly we had 12 cats in the house and two neighborhood strays coming around to eat. We took the kittens to the SPCA. We gave back the 3 adult cats (but not after spending a bunch of money on them at the vet). We were down to 3 cats. Then another friend died, leaving 6 more cats. We found homes for all 6. And again, we were back to our originl 3. But I will say that for several years, we seemed to be the cat drop-off for our city/county! It was totally obnoxious and had we been older, less aggressive, less hard-hearted, etc. we might have ended up like the "cat woman."
All 3 of our original cats have since died of old age (age 20, age 21, age 19 for the 3 cats) and we have staunchly resisted getting more cats as right now we can't take care of them--but I will say that we are pressured to take cats at least once a month... And so, yes, I can understand that someone who is a little more soft-hearted than I would quickly end up with a geometrically increasing population of cats! And you'd be amazed at how the reputation grows--people used to drop off all sorts of cats, dog, other animals on my mother's porch! It was simply amazing! She, too, fought long and hard to avoid being one of those "cat ladies." I feel sort of sorry for them because I can see how it happens. You really don't want to be carting off cats to the SPCA every week. Besides, the SPCA people treat you like garbage! They think that it is somehow deliberate on your part that someone dumped a pillowcase full of kittens in your driveway at midnight or that your friend's cat came to your house and promptly had 6 kittens.
There is one other factor that I don't understand at all--but we have also had the experience (and it is almost life long as it used to happen to my mother as well) of totally random stray animals who have been badly injured in fights with other animals, by cars, etc. to somehow crawl up on OUR porch to seek some sort of shelter or to die or something. More calls to SPCA/animal control, etc. Why do they somehow pick us? I don't know, but it is an odd phenomenon...
My funniest (because it has a "good" ending) concerned a skunk rather than a cat. But the skunk "acted like" a cat. I was sitting in the kitchen when I heard scratching on the screen door (like a cat). I got up to look and it was a skunk. As I approached, it turned and walked a couple of steps and then looked over its shoulder as cats do when they want you to follow them. I went and sat back down and the skunk came back and scratched on the door. This happened 3 times and finally, against my better judgment, I followed the skunk, and it led me to my neighbor's garbage cans. There was crying inside the can. I did not, of course, want to touch or even go near a skunk, so I put the can on its side and the skunk went in and got the baby skunks out of the can. The skunk never sprayed me, but I worried about it the whole time... Why me? Why not the neighbor?
But there is something about us that makes animals seek us out--and it is not our doing. And I can imagine that some of the same thing happens to those cat ladies--except that perhaps they initially think they can somehow cope with the cats and then the cat population gets way out of hand!
But I can say that it is difficult to be hard-hearted and pick up the phone and call "animal control" or the SPCA instead of just taking them in... It goes against all my instincts, but my common sense tells me that that is what I must do... I really do NOT want to become a cat lady....
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Baby skunks are so cute 
. Of course, having lived in a small town that was basically overrun by skunks in the summer (many empty older houses with porches to hide under, and a few barns in the city limited that were near falling down) I probably would not have done what you did <g>. And after the vet told us that 95% of the skunks in that area are rabies carriers it was war - we live trapped 2-3 every night, and I never asked what my husband did with them.
One summer night I was sleeping with all of the windows open, and our doghouse was right by my bedroom window. Heard the dog raising a commotion, and suddenly she got skunked - RIGHT under my bedroom window. I can't even begin to describe how bad it was! Three years later, when we painted the house, you could still see the stain where the skunk "juice" hit the house and the window screen.
Kim
. Of course, having lived in a small town that was basically overrun by skunks in the summer (many empty older houses with porches to hide under, and a few barns in the city limited that were near falling down) I probably would not have done what you did <g>. And after the vet told us that 95% of the skunks in that area are rabies carriers it was war - we live trapped 2-3 every night, and I never asked what my husband did with them.
One summer night I was sleeping with all of the windows open, and our doghouse was right by my bedroom window. Heard the dog raising a commotion, and suddenly she got skunked - RIGHT under my bedroom window. I can't even begin to describe how bad it was! Three years later, when we painted the house, you could still see the stain where the skunk "juice" hit the house and the window screen.
Kim
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So very sad!!! My heart truly breaks for the animals and the people who do things like this.
Persepone, I know where you are coming from. I also seem to end up with the strays no-one wants or does not know what to do with. I even have a couple of peacocks at the moment who I look after.
Noisy buggers to say the least. Someone actually dropped off half a tree trunk that they cut down and found a nest of woodpeckers in.. so there I was feeding ground up liver to a bunch of stinky birdies, sitting inside 5feet of palm tree.
Persepone, I know where you are coming from. I also seem to end up with the strays no-one wants or does not know what to do with. I even have a couple of peacocks at the moment who I look after.
Noisy buggers to say the least. Someone actually dropped off half a tree trunk that they cut down and found a nest of woodpeckers in.. so there I was feeding ground up liver to a bunch of stinky birdies, sitting inside 5feet of palm tree.
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TexasStooge
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I think this story got worse. 
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Cops: Woman Had Over 420 Cats in Two Homes
BURKE, Va. (AP) - Neighbors who had wondered what that stench was from another town house spent Thursday coming to grips with the answer. Police said the odor was that of more than 100 dead cats, plus nearly 50 more live ones, being kept by an elderly woman.
That same woman was arrested earlier this week after authorities removed more than 270 cats, both alive and dead, from another of her homes in the county's Mount Vernon section.
Ruth Knueven, 82, already faces charges including cruelty to animals and obstruction of justice for the July 8 discovery in Mount Vernon. Police said Thursday they are deciding whether to level additional charges against Knueven after finding 134 dead cats and 47 living ones in a Burke home belonging to her family.
"All of these cats had respiratory disease and there were feces and urine all around the house," said Officer Richard Henry, a Fairfax County police spokesman. He said all the cats found alive in both homes had to be euthanized.
Neighbors in the quiet Burke community on Lakepointe Drive said they had noticed foul smells coming out of the town house, but didn't know what was causing them until police arrived. They said they had seen Knueven hauling heavy garbage bags that they now presume were filled with dead cats.
"Who would've ever thought that they were cats — dead cats — in those bags," said neighbor Nancy Fields. Fields said she had to burn incense in her basement and scour its walls with disinfectant because of the stench coming from next door.
Conditions in the houses did not endanger neighbors and their homes, said John Yetman of the Fairfax County Health Department.
Knueven and her family have been living in a hotel since Friday, when health officials declared her Mount Vernon home unfit for human habitation.
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On the Net: Fairfax County Hoarding Task Force
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Cops: Woman Had Over 420 Cats in Two Homes
BURKE, Va. (AP) - Neighbors who had wondered what that stench was from another town house spent Thursday coming to grips with the answer. Police said the odor was that of more than 100 dead cats, plus nearly 50 more live ones, being kept by an elderly woman.
That same woman was arrested earlier this week after authorities removed more than 270 cats, both alive and dead, from another of her homes in the county's Mount Vernon section.
Ruth Knueven, 82, already faces charges including cruelty to animals and obstruction of justice for the July 8 discovery in Mount Vernon. Police said Thursday they are deciding whether to level additional charges against Knueven after finding 134 dead cats and 47 living ones in a Burke home belonging to her family.
"All of these cats had respiratory disease and there were feces and urine all around the house," said Officer Richard Henry, a Fairfax County police spokesman. He said all the cats found alive in both homes had to be euthanized.
Neighbors in the quiet Burke community on Lakepointe Drive said they had noticed foul smells coming out of the town house, but didn't know what was causing them until police arrived. They said they had seen Knueven hauling heavy garbage bags that they now presume were filled with dead cats.
"Who would've ever thought that they were cats — dead cats — in those bags," said neighbor Nancy Fields. Fields said she had to burn incense in her basement and scour its walls with disinfectant because of the stench coming from next door.
Conditions in the houses did not endanger neighbors and their homes, said John Yetman of the Fairfax County Health Department.
Knueven and her family have been living in a hotel since Friday, when health officials declared her Mount Vernon home unfit for human habitation.
___
On the Net: Fairfax County Hoarding Task Force
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StormCrazyIowan
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Hurricaneman
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TexasStooge
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No pets for woman who kept 488 cats
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (The Washington Post) – A Fairfax County, Va., woman hoarding 488 cats was declared an unfit pet owner after agreeing to the terms of a civil petition that bars her from owning animals again.
Ruth Knueven, 82, asked the judge whether she could make a statement, explaining "there's a long story to this," but Judge Gallahue advised that it was not a good idea because she still faces five misdemeanor charges stemming from the many hundreds of cats – 222 of them dead – she was found keeping last week at her Mount Vernon home and her daughter's Burke townhouse.
Ms. Knueven's son, who was not identified by name, declined to comment after the hearing.
Ms. Knueven has been charged with two counts of failing to care for her animals as well as a charge of failing to properly dispose of cats found in her home.
Ms. Knueven also faces a charge of obstructing justice, police said, because she tampered with traps that animal control officers had set to round up the feral cats still hiding in her home.
Another charge, cruelty to animals, stems from the death of one of the cats, police said.
A court date has been set for Oct. 19.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (The Washington Post) – A Fairfax County, Va., woman hoarding 488 cats was declared an unfit pet owner after agreeing to the terms of a civil petition that bars her from owning animals again.
Ruth Knueven, 82, asked the judge whether she could make a statement, explaining "there's a long story to this," but Judge Gallahue advised that it was not a good idea because she still faces five misdemeanor charges stemming from the many hundreds of cats – 222 of them dead – she was found keeping last week at her Mount Vernon home and her daughter's Burke townhouse.
Ms. Knueven's son, who was not identified by name, declined to comment after the hearing.
Ms. Knueven has been charged with two counts of failing to care for her animals as well as a charge of failing to properly dispose of cats found in her home.
Ms. Knueven also faces a charge of obstructing justice, police said, because she tampered with traps that animal control officers had set to round up the feral cats still hiding in her home.
Another charge, cruelty to animals, stems from the death of one of the cats, police said.
A court date has been set for Oct. 19.
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Hurricaneman
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Astro_man92
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