New York man charged after nearly 70 live cats and two dozen dead kittens are found in his home

BOHEMIA, N.Y. (AP) — A suburban New York man has been charged with animal cruelty after authorities say they found nearly 100 cats in his home, including about two dozen dead kittens in a freezer.

The man, 75, surrendered Wednesday to detectives with the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at a local police precinct, the nonprofit organization said. He was charged with 18 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and animal neglect and ordered to appear in court on May 23.

His house, which is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Manhattan, also was condemned as uninhabitable because of overpowering odors of feces and urine, authorities said.

The man didn’t immediately respond to a Thursday phone message seeking comment. Court records don’t list a lawyer for him.

Authorities found 69 living cats, many of which had medical ailments including respiratory infections and eye disease, and 28 dead cats at the man’s home on Saturday while investigating a complaint about dozens of cats living in squalid conditions, the county SPCA said. About two dozen dead kittens were wrapped up in a freezer and the other deceased animals were found in other parts of the house, according to the group.

Three of the living cats taken from the home later had to be euthanized because they were in such bad shape, the SPCA said.

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The surviving cats are being treated at the Islip town animal shelter with the help of the SPCA’s mobile animal and surgical hospital. Officials are working to find new homes for them and seeking donations to help pay for their care. More than two dozen will be brought to upstate New York to be made available for adoption, the SPCA said.

“The house was in absolute deplorable condition,” said Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk County SPCA. “Feces covered the floors, sprayed on the walls, saturated in urine. The floors were spongy, most likely from the urine. And the ammonia was so extremely high — the ammonia smell from the urine — that the town of Islip fire marshal condemned the house.”

It isn’t clear why the man had so many cats. Gross said the man’s wife died last month and they had lived in the home for more than 30 years.

It has been a busy and trying month for the animal welfare organization, which also has been helping to care for dozens of cats that were injured in a cat sanctuary fire in the nearby hamlet of Medford on March 31. The shelter’s owner was killed in the blaze.