SPCA tracks cat hoarder to Gabriola

More cats rescued from Nanaimo-area animal hoarder

Oct 6, 2009: By Jenn Marshall

A woman caught hoarding a large number of cats and kittens twice this year needs medical help and should be banned from owning animals, Nanaimo SPCA says.

Special constables were called to Gabriola Island last week to rescue 23 neglected cats and kittens. In August, SPCA constables removed nearly 100 cats from a house the same woman was renting in Cedar.

In both cases, the property owners invited SPCA officials to the property to remove the animals.

Volunteers with the Gabriola Cats Alive rescue group helped the SPCA catch and cage the animals in the most recent incident..." More

SPCA tracks cat hoarder to Gabriola

After losing up to 100 sick and neglected animals in August, woman is found with pack of animals in filthy bus

Oct 7, 2009: Danielle Bell

Less than two months after she was evicted and threatened with charges for keeping nearly 100 cats in filthy conditions, a Cedar woman has been caught again with a large number of animals at a Gabriola Island property.

Twenty-three cats and kittens are being cared for at the Nanaimo SPCA after officials were called again to rescue neglected animals from the compulsive hoarder, who has since been evicted from the renovated bus trailer where she was living.

The latest animal rescue is putting increased pressure on the Nanaimo shelter, which is dealing with about 50% more cats in 2009 compared to an average year. It also illustrates the difficulty authorities have dealing with compulsive animal hoarders.

On Thursday, B.C. SPCA officials and volunteers with Gabriola Cats Alive spent five hours removing the fearful, flea-infested cats who rescuers said were malnourished and suffering from infections. The cats had crawled into vents and walls inside the garbage-strewn bus, where the smell of feces and urine was overwhelming. The only food provided for them was lettuce left in a rusty pan.

The owner of the property where the unidentified woman was staying called the SPCA when he discovered the situation with the cats.

Cats Alive spokeswoman Jean Wyenberg said Tuesday that the volunteer rescue group was aware the woman had moved to the Island and were monitoring her movements.

"It's pretty horrible. They were little animals that were absolutely terrified," said Wyenberg, who helped remove some cats. "It's just very hard and traumatic all around."

SPCA officials believe at least some of the animals may have come from the Cedar property the woman occupied until August. Ninety-four cats and kittens were removed from a rented home on Lofthouse Road. The cleanup costs are $50,000..." More

More cats rescued from Nanaimo-area animal hoarder

The BC SPCA was called out a second time to rescue neglected cats and kittens from a large-scale animal hoarder.

SPCA special constables were called to Gabriola Island on Oct. 1 to rescue 23 neglected cats and kittens from the same individual who was involved in a troubling hoarding case in Cedar in August in which BC SPCA special constables removed 94 sick and badly-neglected cats. Charges of animal neglect are pending in that case.

“The woman had left Cedar and was living in a renovated bus on a property on Gabriola,” said SPCA Const. Julie Hitchcock in a press release. "The owner of the property was unaware that the woman was keeping cats and when it was discovered he called us to remove them.”

When SPCA officers and volunteers from the rescue group Gabriola Cats Alive arrived they found 23 short-haired domestic cats living in horrific conditions.

“The cats were extremely fearful, malnourished, dehydrated, suffering from upper respiratory infection and eye infections and were infested with fleas,” said Hitchcock. “The smell of feces and urine inside the bus was overwhelming and the only food available to the cats was some wilted romaine lettuce in a rusty pan.”

She adds the bus was filled with dirty clothing and broken household items and the terrified cats had wedged themselves into every possible space, including vents and inside walls.

“This is a very sad case where the woman is an animal hoarder and is not taking necessary steps to relieve the suffering of the animals,” said Hitchcock.

The 23 cats are being cared for at the Nanaimo SPCA shelter..." More

Sept 21, 2009: Nearly 100 hoarded cats removed from filthy home

Nanaimo and Parksville SPCA officials removed nearly 100 cats from a house in Cedar on Monday.

Investigators were shocked when they arrived at the home of a woman who had been previously investigated for hoarding animals.

Cats had overrun the property and had even found their way inside the walls. The floors were thick with animal waste, and dead cats and kittens were being kept in a freezer.

The B.C. SPCA said they were tipped off by bailiffs, who were in the process of evicting the home's unidentified female occupant.

"We only took the most seriously neglected and distressed animals from the property," said SPCA investigator Julie Hitchcock. "There were considerably more animals there."

In total, 94 animals were removed. Many required immediate veterinary care.

"The animals were living in a horrendous hoarding situation," said SPCA investigator Tina Heary.

The amount of urine and feces in the house created a health hazard for humans and animals. "The air quality was so bad we had to keep moving outside the home to get air while seizing the animals," said Heary.

The SPCA is considering animal cruelty and neglect charges against the female occupant. An order will be sought to prohibit her from owning any more animals..." Link

Owner wants cats returned

By Jenn Marshall

Nearly 100 cats seized in Cedar last week likely won’t be returned to the owner.

The animals were taken Aug. 10 after a bailiff hired by the property owner to evict the tenant called the SPCA. The cats were living in poor conditions and some needed medical attention.

Leon Davis, manager of the Nanaimo and District SPCA, said the animals were seized legally because SPCA officials were invited in by the homeowner and the cats were considered abandoned because the tenant had nowhere to take them.

But the shelter must follow strict legal guidelines before allowing the cats to be adopted.

Owners have four days after seizure to ask that their animals be returned to them and then two weeks to submit reasons why the animals should be returned and what provisions will be made for them.

“She has stated that she would like to have them back and so we will wait and see what she comes up [by Aug. 24],” said Davis. “There’s no evidence this owner has anywhere she can take the cats. It’s just not going to happen, in my opinion.”..." More

August 15, 2009: Landlord of cat infested home stuck with $50,000 bill

BY WALTER CORDERY

NANAIMO, B.C. — A cat-hoarding tenant left her Vancouver Island landlord with a $50,000 mess.

Nanaimo businesswoman Irene Wenngatz owns the home where SPCA officials rescued 94 cats and kittens from deplorable conditions on Monday. The SPCA was contacted by bailiffs who were in the process of evicting Wenngatz's tenant.

SPCA investigators said the home in Cedar, which is a Nanaimo suburb, was overrun with cats, the floors were thick with animal waste and dead cats and kittens were being kept in a freezer. Although 94 cats were taken from the home, a number of animals were left behind.

Wenngatz had been trying for months to remove the tenant, who stopped paying her rent eight months ago, she said. The homeowner said she was caught up in a nightmarish delay with tenancy arbitrators that may have allowed her former tenant to acquire more cats.

Wenngatz purchased the property two years ago.

The former Alberta resident said she can't believe the bureaucratic haggling she had to endure with the arbitrators, especially since she said she was deceived by her former tenant from the beginning of their relationship.

"She told me she had no pets," Wenngatz said.

She later learned that her former tenant had given another area landlord the same grief.

A couple of months after renting the woman the home, the woman stopped paying her rent. Wenngatz estimates the tenant owes her about $18,000 in unpaid rent.

Once she started the arbitration process, Wenngatz went to the home and was shocked by what she saw.

"There were cats everywhere. She had tore out the carpets and kicked holes in the wall just for them," she said.

She took pictures so that she could show the arbitrator. Still, the process dragged on and on.

"This should have only taken a couple of weeks but eight months, that's ridiculous. There are times I can't believe how different things are here than they are in Alberta," said Wenngatz. "God only knows how much damage was done during the negotiations with the arbitrator and before he made his ruling and when I first started proceedings to get an order of possession. I couldn't stand being in there when I was taking the pictures. The place stank."

The arbitrator finally ruled in Wenngatz's favour in late June and her tenant was given two days to get out..." More

Cedar woman might get 94 cats back

Eccles said SPCA staff were in legal limbo on Monday because the bailiffs had already served an eviction notice to the woman, who is in her 60s, and were in the process of removing her from the home. "The bailiffs called us because they wanted the animals looked after."

Eccles said he talked to the woman yesterday and she indicated she wanted the cats back. "It may very well be that any evidence that we gathered at the house may not be admissible in court because we may not have had the legal jurisdiction to be there," he said. "In my opinion, we did the correct thing. We rescued those animals from horrendous living conditions..." More