Posted on 10/09/2009 7:25:26 PM PDT by myknowledge
SACRAMENTO, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Sacramento officials say they rescued dozens of cats that had been living in a house with cages stacked to the ceiling and feces caking the floors.
Inside Paul and Kathy Franco's house and garage, city officials said they discovered among the worst cases of animal hoarding they had ever seen, The Sacramento Bee reported.
After a SWAT team kicked open the couple's door Wednesday, veterinary specialists, shelter workers and animal-control officers spent hours rescuing the cats, which were taken to the city's animal-control center.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...

Whoa. Seventy-seven cats in one household. Talking about hoarding cats, why would you have so many of them?

This is so sad.
It’s a mental illness—Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Especially for cat lovers.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
I’m glad the swat team didn’t open up on the cats and then apologize for it.
SWAT team? For that? How many of the cats were shot?
“After a SWAT team kicked open the couple’s door Wednesday,”
A swat team ? Come on!
I hope these cats are truly rescued and good homes are found for them.
I don’t think it was the cats they were thinking of, but of the nutjobs that kept them locked up in cages in the house. lol
Anyone who had over 70 cats locked up like that cannot possibly be mentally stable.
Cistaro sought the court order that enabled officers and officials to enter.
The title says the cats were rescued. Were they? What happens to them now?
“Talking about hoarding cats, why would you have so many of them?”
Anticipating a shortage (cat - the other white meat) ?
give.me.a.break.
Yea but a SWAT team is over the top. Sounds kike nutlobs were on both sides.
Maybe he was a rancher. :0)
Sounds like nutjobs
SWAT team??? I was thinking when I clicked on the link and read the rest of the article, I’d find some explanation for why they thought this was necessary, but instead I just read about the old woman breaking down crying when they told her she could only(!) keep 7 of the cats.
Two uniformed officers should have been capable of what is basically a court ordered welfare check. Sending a SWAT team is serious overkill.
Crack a door open, and (don't) watch them vanish. Color my catz GONE.
There are advantages to being owned by shy catz. "What catz, Your Honor?"
/johnny
I’ve probably read hundreds of these stories over the course of my adult life, and I’ve never before heard of anything like a “SWAT team” being part of the equation. These hoarders are generally just irrational softies who can’t bring themselves to turn away a single stray, or put to sleep a single old sick cat, and can’t afford to get any of them fixed because all the money’s being spent on cat food. I can see a show of being needed for some of the raids of commercial puppy mills (totally different motives on the part of the people who run those), but not for an elderly couple keeping dozens of pet cats inside their home.
As for the “locked up” part, animal shelters routinely have cats and dogs “locked up” and stacked 3 high. It’s entirely possible that this couple was keeping the cats caged to prevent them from reproducing, and was bringing them out a few at a time so they could get some exercise and play (just as shelters do). Not saying this couple was running the household in a reasonable way, but with the article not saying anything about finding emaciated and dead cats at the home (which is normally what happens when they’re all running loose and multiplying totally out of control), I’ll give the couple the benefit of the doubt that they were trying the best they knew how and could afford, to run their home like an animal shelter.
For the record I oppose all Swat force and think the jack booted stuff is not a part of our constitution.
They probably sent the SWAT team out to keep them from sitting around eating doughnuts and getting fat. There is no police force in the US that needs a SWAT team.
On that we agree one hundred percent. The cops playing military are as sick as the animal hoarders.
I hear you, and what you say may be very true...
Part of my response was to this...
“Sacramento officials say they rescued dozens of cats that had been living in a house with cages stacked to the ceiling and feces caking the floors.”
In that paragraph it did not sound very healthy and I can’t imagine living that way. I too am an animal softie, but reality tells me what is possible and what is not.
And a far greater danger.
LOL That is what I’m talking about.
Actually, that turns out to not be the case.
With the animal hoarders, you don't have to worry about Fluffy or Fido getting shot as a 'first thing on the list" item.
LEO wearing black masks and carrying autofire weapons should be reserved for serious threats to the Republic. Not sent out for too many cats in an apartment.
I'd rather deal with harmless OCD than ninja-clad sociopaths with full-auto weapons.
/johnny
“A swat team ? Come on!”
You never know-all it takes is one cougar in the garage that you didn’t notice;)
I'll let one take me to dinner, but that's it.
/johnny
It’s called Militarization of Police Departments.
How is it a rescue when the cats are taken away to be killed?
I know. I saw a sheriff’s deputy wearing jump boots, BDU trousers, shooting sweater and a combat harness. I totally lost it when I saw from his vehicle that he was Sheriff’s Department Park Division. The image of him breaking up an unlawful picnic with a combat assault struck me as hilarious, even though it really isn’t.
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