Garage Full of Dead Cats Found in Indiana

AP via Excite News ^ | Dec 2, 2:09 PM (ET) | AP

[leadpencil1]

Garage Full of Dead Cats Found in Indiana

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) - Officers wearing oxygen tanks to protect themselves from the stench removed 49 dead cats from a garage where they had died while waiting for a woman to find them new homes, authorities said.

Some of the cages in Kathy Shotsberger's garage belonged to officials in Jasper County who had given the woman dogs and cats under the belief she would find new owners for the animals, said LaPorte County Animal Control Director Jane Bernard.

Police who removed the dead animals on Sunday said the 45-year-old Michigan City woman, who described herself as an animal lover, apparently became overwhelmed by the number of animals in her care.

"She was just bringing them into the garage and basically letting them die," Bernard said.

Prosecutors charged Shotsberger with seven counts of animal neglect. Each count is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

The Associated Press was unable to contact Shotsberger for comment Tuesday because there was no number under her name in published listings for Michigan City.

Police were first called to the home Friday by a neighbor who heard yelling from inside the home while looking for a missing dog. Officers noticed a stench from inside the house, but no one answered the door. After they were called a second time Saturday, police obtained a search warrant and returned on Sunday.

They found cages full of dead cats, birds and rabbits stacked throughout the garage, which was littered with urine, feces, maggots and flies. In a nearby modular home, officers found 29 live animals, mostly beagles, inside cages or locked in rooms with floors soaked in waste.

The urine and feces left many of the animals that survived with burns and other skin conditions, Bernard said.

The county health department condemned the home for unsanitary conditions.

[Frank_Discussion]

"There's more dead cats in here than you could swing a dead cat at!"

[Frank_Discussion]

In all truth, this is horrible.

[TheBigB]

Iiiiick.

[Alouette]

Well, I guess now she will turn her garage into a homeless shelter.

[Steel Wolf]

Damn, that's as nasty as a garage full of dead cats.

[KarlInOhio]

[Always Right]

The smell from nearby Gary provided good cover for this.

[theFIRMbss]

>Officers wearing oxygen tanks to protect themselves from the stench removed 49 dead cats from a garage

Q: What's worse than a pile
of forty-nine poor dead cats?
A: The one living cat

stuck under the pile
trying to claw its way out...
(Yes, dead cat jokes rule!)

[Frank_Discussion]

Yeah...

BTW, your tagline has me ROFLMAO! Good one!

[Solson]

dead cats...live cats...they're all the same...

cats...

[SAMWolf]

God save the animals from the "self proclaimed" animal lovers.

[TheBigB]

Danke. :)

[CobaltBlue]

Why do crazy old ladies always collect cats? Why not dogs?

[eastforker]

Classic example of someone who's heart is bigger than their pocket book.I am sure her initial intention where good but everything overwhelmed her.She doesn't need prison,she needs help.

[Constitution Day]

I bet they weren't crazy before they got the cats. ;^)

[#3Fan]

Is this the same house Joe Dirt was kept? Buffalo Bob's house?

[FreedomFarmer]

Garage Full of Dead Cats Found in Indiana

City folk sure have some odd hobbies.