Thank goodness, sometimes at least, for observant neighbors.
We're not talking about needlessly nosy neighbors like the ineffectual Gladys Kravits from the old sitcom "Bewitched," who routinely peered from her living room curtains at the house across the street where neighbors Darrin and Samantha Stephens lived. The fictitious Gladys was sure something was odd there, but she never made anyone else believe it.
Luckily neighbors of the Hickory Run Forest house in Penn Forest Towmship, Carbon County, were more successful, even though it took more than one complaint. They reported the house to various authorities so that an animal response team would come and intervene. Last Thursday workers rescued 32 cats from filthy rooms in the otherwise unoccupied house. Ammonia from the cat urine was so strong that even masked rescuers retched on exiting the premises.
Someone had left torn-open cat food bags, presumably as a way to be kind to the otherwise untended animals. This is not kindness. Ironically, it is a form of animal cruelty, and as such it is criminal..." More
