Monday, January 9, 2012

Cat hoarding crosses thin line



By Tim Petruk



There is a thin line Kent Kokoska has come to know quite well.

In his eight years as a BCSPCA special provincial constable — one of two such officers tasked with investigating alleged animal-cruelty cases in Kamloops and the surrounding area — Kokoska has  been inside a lot of houses and seen a lot of pets.

In some homes, there’s nothing amiss.

Sometimes, however, animals — usually cats, and usually many of them — are made to live in deplorable conditions.

Cat hoarding, according to Kokoska, is not something confined to the world of reality TV and fictional films — it’s taking place right here, in and around Kamloops...

Last week, SPCA officers in Kamloops received information about an abandoned ranch house near Ashcroft.
...
On Jan. 4, they searched the home.
The next day, they returned and seized 31 cats — all of whom had been living in unspeakable conditions, Kokoska said.
“There was a layer of pack-rat feces — almost a surreal fecal carpet — on the attic floor,” he said.
“The house had been unoccupied for a long period of time and someone thought they could put these cats there.”..."  More


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