Nearly a hundred furry felines are in need of new homes after the animals were rescued from an elderly man’s residence in what was described as a “hoarder situation” when police responded to neighbor complaints about the smell coming from the house.
On Sunday, the Brownstown Township Police Department paid a visit to the home located in the 18400 block of Winwood Avenue after they received calls about a large number of cats and the strong odor emanating from the premises.
Upon their arrival, officers discovered dozens of cats, with the number soon reaching nearly 100. “You got three or four more just chilling back there,” one officer is heard saying in the bodycam footage. “You got three on the table, you got two on the floor eating.”
(Video: YouTube/Fox2 Detroit)
“The neighbors called and were concerned about the smell of urine and ammonia coming from the house,” said Brownstown Township Police Deputy Chief Andrew Starzec.”It was starting to become a real problem with the residents.”
“In talking with our animal control now, they’re estimating it at near a hundred in the house,” said Starzec who called it one of the most unusual cases of animal hoarding that he’s ever seen. “They were feeding them and giving them water, things like that, but at the same time, it’s not something you want around your house all the time.”
“There’s estimated between 50 and 100 cats right now, and I know that our officers were out there sometime late last year and estimated at that time between 20 and 30,” he said. “So you can see the numbers are increasing within a relatively short period of time, too.”
“Everything that we’ve seen, the cats are in really good health there’s no major problems where you might see in other hoarding instances,” Starzec added.”You can’t have more than three cats or three dogs and we are clearly over that in this case.”
“The cats were well cared for,” he said. “They seem to be a healthy weight and were pretty good. Unfortunately, the Brownstown ordinance states three animals were in the house, and there were way more than that.”
Some of the cats were rare breeds, including Maine Coons.
The homeowner, who is expected to be hit with several fines was cooperating with animal control.
The cats were taken to a local animal shelter where personnel are working to find them new “fur” ever homes.
(Video: YouTube/Click On Detroit)
“Now that we’ve discovered all these cats, we’re trying to get them removed from the house to remove the nuisance and find them homes,” said Brownstown Township Manager Brian C. Peters, adding “We’ve gotten to a point where our animal shelter is at capacity.”
“There has been a nonstop line for people looking to adopt cats and some of the cats have been adopted,” Brownstown Township public works director Justin Danosky said on Thursday.
“If you are interested in adopting any of them, please call the Brownstown Animal Shelter at 734-675-4008,” the Brownstown Township Police posted on social media.
“They’re doing everything they can to get the animals in nice, safe homes,” Starzec said
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