Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
OGDEN — Ogden Animal Control officers were aware there were cats on the property at 151 Jefferson Ave., but they had no idea how many until they went inside.
"It was quite amazing. We opened the front door and there were just cats running everywhere," Ogden Animal Control officer Stephanie Butte said.
Officers began trapping cats on the property Friday. As of Tuesday morning, they had turned 52 cats over to the Weber County Animal Shelter. Butte said she expects as many as 70 cats may be pulled from the home once they're all trapped.
"Apparently they're everywhere in this house. In the basement, up in the ceiling portion of the house," said Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Chad Ferrin, director of Animal Services. "They said they are everywhere, in every nook and cranny that a cat can be at."
Butte said her office had received complaints about cats on the property since 2007 and had at one time tried to take legal action to get onto the property. But the homeowner had a chain-link fence surrounding his property that he keeps locked.
Ogden Animal Control was in the process starting legal again when the homeowner, who lives alone and reportedly suffers from mental problems, suffered undisclosed health problems that required him to be admitted to a local hospital. While at the hospital, the man's sister contacted Animal Services and said she had a key to the house.
Butte described the homeowner as a recluse who was somewhat estranged from his family. She said the man's sister knew there were cats on the property, but not as many as were found.
"She thought there were 20 to 30 cats. She's been trying to work with her brother for a couple of years," Butte said. "But nobody had any idea there were as many as there are."
The home has been condemned by the health department, Butte said. The man had ripped all the sinks and toilets out of his house and was living without running water.
"It's kind of what you'd imagine, with feces and cockroaches," Butte said. "We wore hazmat suits to go in and boots on our feet. The ammonia levels were pretty strong."
It's kind of what you'd imagine, with feces and cockroaches. We wore hazmat suits to go in and boots on our feet. The ammonia levels were pretty strong.
–Ogden Animal Control officer Stephanie Butte
Thirty-four cats were rounded up on the first day and taken to the shelter.
"For the most part, these are coming in fairly healthy and somewhat socialized. So we're hoping that we can save most of them. They're ranging anywhere from a week or two old up to mature cats that could be 4 or 5 or 6 years old," Ferrin said.
Traps have been set inside the man's house, his shed and other parts of his property in an attempt to capture the cats that are either feral or too scared to come out.
With the additional cats from the house, Ferrin said the shelter had just under 190 as of Tuesday.
"We have way too many cats in this shelter for us to try and maintain a healthy population," he said.
The Weber County Animal Shelter is asking for public donations of kitty litter, kitten milk replacer or cash to help take care of the cats until they can be adopted out.
Cats that were previously at the shelter are ready to be adopted now, but some of the cats pulled from the house won't be ready for adoption until later this week, Ferrin said.
