Hoarding 36 cats
Doraville, GA (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Jan 31, 2007
County: Gwinnett
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Donna Wheatley
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Thirty-six cats are in the care of local animal rescue and care centers after the felines were seized from a Doraville woman's home on Jan 31.
Donna Wheatley was cited with 36 counts of animal neglect after Gwinnett County Animal Control investigated the home several times and deemed the residence unsuitable for the animals.
Cpl. Darren Moloney, Gwinnett County Police Department spokesman, said police and animal control obtained a search warrant to enter the home around 6:30 a.m. Jan 31.
He said the cats were living inside the single home at 4678 Ash Street. He said officers found the cats in unsanitary and unhealthy conditions, eating and defecating in the same areas of the home.
"All the cats were checked by an on-scene veterinarians," Moloney said. "Many of the cats were in need of care."
He said Wheatley voluntarily released all 36 cats to animal control and were taken to Fur Kids Cat Rescue, Good Mews Cat Rescue and the Lawrenceville-Suwanee Animal Hospital.
The organizations are trying to find homes for the cats. Anyone interested in adopting one or more of the animals can contact Fur Kids by visiting www.furkids.org or Good Mews at www.goodmews.org.
Sammy Jeanes, Animal Control manager, said although each neglect case is different, officers go to the scene checking animals for signs of starvation and physical abuse.
He said every animal found is checked by a veterinarian either on scene or soon after they are taken from the residence.
"(In this case) it's a very large number of animals for one residence, Jeanes said. "It would be kind of hard to have all those cats without the spread of disease among each other."
He said any one with multiple animals takes on the responsibility of properly taking care of their needs.
"If you have 36 cats on 25 acres that may be ok, but in a single home, there would be problems."
Case UpdatesThey look a little ratty around the corners, and almost all of them need dental work and other medical care. But for the 36 cats pulled out of a filthy Gwinnett County home Jan. 31, life is getting better.
The animals were taken from a home on Ash Street, according to Gwinnett County police spokesman Cpl. Darren Moloney, because the owner wasn't caring for them.
Moloney said officials checked on the woman because she'd had a similar situation a few years ago. This time, veterinarian Melinda Merck, who works cruelty cases for the county, recommended the cats be removed from the home.
"Almost all of the cats had bad teeth, and some of them had other health issues," Merck said. "The house was nasty. There wasn't a clean area in the house anywhere."
Two cat shelters have stepped up to help the cats. Furkids, a no-kill cat shelter in Gwinnett, allowed the cats to be brought in to be checked, then agreed to take in 14 of them. Another 12 went to Good Mews, a no-kill cat shelter in Marietta. The remaining 10 were taken in by a veterinarian.
"Because their immunity is often suppressed when they come from an environment like this, we tried to keep them out of the shelter," Merck said.
Shannon Crafton, the shelter manager at Good Mews, said all but one of the cats they took in need dental care, including extractions. Another has a heart murmur and one is in kidney failure.
"You never know what you're going to get when you take in kitties from a situation like this," said Crafton, who estimated the cost of caring for the cats would exceed $2,000.
Samantha Shelton, founder of Furkids, said most of the cats they took in have ear infections and bad teeth, along with three that have heart murmurs and one with hyperthyroidism.
"But despite all that, they're really loving, sweet cats," Shelton said. "For all they've been through, they're still very happy cats."
Both groups say they hope the public will step up and help, not only financially, but by adopting the cats.
Shelton said this is the third group of cats they've taken in from animal hoarding cases this year.
"We took in 51 cats in January just from hoarding cases," she said.
Animal hoarders normally keep large numbers of animals, often in deplorable conditions, yet they rarely can see the suffering of the animals they claim to love.
Shelton said she doesn't think there are more hoarding cases, just more awareness of them, so more people are reporting them when they notice the problem.
Moloney said the home-owner in this case, Donna Wheatley, was charged with 36 counts of animal neglect. She relinquished the cats to the county, he said.
Shelton said it will be hard to find homes for some of the cats, since most range in age from about 3 to 10 years old.
"A lot of them are so sweet and would make wonderful pets," Shelton said. "The problem is it's a numbers game - there just aren't enough good homes out there."
For more information on the cats at Good Mews, go to www.goodmews.org or call 770-499-2287. For the cats at Furkids, go to www.furkids.org or call 770-613-0009. | Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution - Feb 10, 2007
Update posted on Feb 10, 2007 - 12:46PM |
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