Animal Abuse Case Database - Case Details
Hoarding 206 cats: Petaluma, CA - US
Crime Date: May 22, 2001
Case Status: Dismissed
Case Updates: Available - Click Here
Case Photos: Available - Click Here
Abusers/Suspects:
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Animal Abuse Case Database - Case DetailsHoarding 206 cats: |
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Petaluma police have arrested a 61-year-old San Francisco woman who kept at least 150 cats in a two-story green house she bought exclusively for the cats to live in.
Police responded to a vandalism call at the house at 210 Baker St. in a residential neighborhood of Petaluma at about 1 a.m. and were greeted by an overwhelming stench of urine and feces drifting through several shattered windows and an open screen door, said police Sgt. Ralph Evans.
Fearing the stench might be the result of a dead body, one of the officers went inside the house and found cats everywhere, living in horrible conditions. At least three cats were found dead, including one that had been partly cannibalized.
"When he opened the door, he was overcome by the smell of feces and urine," said Evans. "All of the floors of the residence were covered with it."
As police and firefighters were inspecting the house just before 7 a.m. -- wearing hazardous materials suits -- the cats' guardian, Marilyn Barletta, drove up in her Mercedes station wagon to feed the cats. She was arrested and later charged with felony cruelty to animals.
Inspectors retrieved about 85 cats from the property and took them to an animal shelter. They were back on the scene this morning to try to retrieve as many as 100 more, many of which were hiding in walls and in the garage.
"(Barletta) admitted it had gotten out of hand," said Nancee Tavares, the manager for Petaluma Animal Services, who helped question Barletta at police headquarters. "She thought she was doing good and she started with maybe 10 cats, but they weren't spayed or neutered and it got out of hand. She believes that any life is preferable to being euthanized."
According to Evans, Barletta bought the $400,000 house five years ago for the cats after Marin Humane Society officials refused to take any more of her cats for their adoption program. Barletta, a retired real estate agent who lives on Polk Street in San Francisco, never lived at the sparsely furnished house but would visit it daily to feed the cats, Tavares said.
Over the past five years, the cats apparently bred without restrictions, multiplying rapidly until there were several generations of litters living there, Tavares said. On average, a female cat can have two litters per year with about six kittens each, Tavares said.
Barletta had set up an appointment to see about having Petaluma Animal Services take some of the cats off her hands, Tavares said. "She had that appointment scheduled with me today and she was hoping some of them could be adopted," said Tavares, who described Barletta as well- dressed, cooperative, articulate, sad and overwhelmed.
Barletta was charged with animal cruelty and posted bail yesterday. Tavares said her department was trying to get Barletta to agree to release custody of the cats so they can be immediately assessed for diseases. If she doesn't agree to that, the case will have to go before the animal services department for a hearing, Tavares said.
Tavares said Barletta fits the description of an animal hoarder, which is described in an online psychiatry article as a person who is in a state of denial that prevents him or her from seeing filth or understanding that animals are sick, dying or dead.
Greg Mitchell, 49, a landscaper who also lives across the street, said neighborhood cats would flock to the house at night and could be heard moaning, screeching and fighting.
"It had been going on for years," Mitchell said. "I knew her. I met her when I bought the house four years ago. I thought she was just a quirky lady. She was well-dressed, she drove a nice car. She didn't seem to be (unstable)."
Tavares said her department had been getting calls from neighbors for a year about the cat problem but Barletta always refused to let inspectors on her property. Despite the conditions that were found inside the house, there were no indications of a serious problem based on how the property looked from the outside, Tavares said.
"We'd go to the door and we couldn't smell anything outside and it looked pretty clean," Tavares said. But inspectors were not prepared for the conditions inside the house when they went yesterday to retrieve the cats. "It was incredibly bad," Tavares said. "There were cats in drawers, they were in the walls."
Inspectors found a dead cat in the garbage, another in a cat carrier and a third that had been partly cannibalized in the refrigerator, which was shut off. Most of the cats were feral, Tavares said, and ranged in size from undernourished kittens to well-fed adults. "There was definitely a pecking order," Tavares said. "The dominant cats got first pick and the others got the leftovers." Tavares said she was unsure how much dry food Barletta had to carry with her to feed the cats, but that a cat typically requires at least a cup of food per day. Many empty food bowls were scattered around the house, she said.
"Most of these cats have never been outside in their lives so the outside is terrifying for them," Tavares said. "Many of the adults are totally wild, feral cats. They will have to be put down because there are so many nice lap cats that need homes. Nobody wants feral cats like this."
Many of the cats lashed out and bit inspectors trying to round them up, Tavares said.
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Posted: Oct 9, 2004 - 12:17 PM |
Barletta was ordered released Aug 16, 2004 from a mental health treatment center after psychiatrists there concluded she could not be restored to competency to stand trial on misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. |
Source: ABC Local - Aug 16, 2004 |
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Posted: Nov 6, 2003 - 4:27 PM |
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Officers arrested San Francisco resident Marilyn Barletta, 64, at a Fisherman's Wharf hotel Monday night (Nov 3, 2003), said San Francisco Police Department spokesman Dewayne Tully. Posted: Nov 6, 2003 - 4:24 PM
It�s been four months since Barletta, 64, failed to appear at a Sonoma County Superior Court hearing. She was out on $50,000 bail pending a trial on felony animal cruelty charges for keeping approximately 200 cats in squalid conditions in her Petaluma home. |
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Posted: Jul 19, 2003 - 12:50 PM |
Barletta was ordered to jail Wednesday after skipping a court-mandated psychological exam. Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Robert Dale suspended the criminal proceedings against Marilyn Barletta, 63, and ordered her taken into custody on $50,000 bail. She will remain in jail until her next court appearance Friday. |
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Posted: Jun 18, 2003 - 11:40 AM |
In January 2002, the Sacramento City Council voted 6 to 0 to place a nuisance-abatement lien on Barletta's house. The cost being sough included $4,925 for disposal of the bodies of about 160 cats that were too wild or sick to be adopted. |
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Posted: Mar 20, 2003 - 3:53 PM |
Prosecutors in Sonoma County say for the past several months, Marilyn Barletta has been keeping 40 cats at an office in Sausalito. The allegation was made public Tuesday morning during Barletta's latest court appearance. Officials say the owner of the Sausalito building evicted Barletta and gave the cats away after neighbors complained about the noise and the stench. (May 2002) |