More Than 60 Cats Found Abandoned in Apartment
More than 60 cats were found abandoned in a two-bedroom apartment in Rhode Island last week.
Police found the 63 felines on Dulude Avenue in the city of Woonsocket after the tenant moved out and left them behind, WJAR reported.
Jane Feliz, 58, was charged with animal cruelty.
"I was there from the outside I couldn't get much closer because of the smell," Capt. John Picard told the TV channel.
"As they were replacing some locks on the door, they realized that there were a lot of cats left behind in the apartment," Picard added.
Police said six cats were pregnant and later had kittens, bringing the total number of animals to 71.
Picard added that the cats have all been given to shelters across Rhode Island state, in Woonsocket and further afield in Burrillville, North Smithfield, and South Kingston.
Police said there was not much food or water found at the apartment, which was filthy. The animals were mainly healthy, they said.
Police said Feliz started taking care of the cats in 2019 but she couldn't afford to properly take care of them all.
"I don't think she had the means to care for them properly. Vet bills expenses, food. I don't think she could afford to keep them," said Picard.
"There's a lot of orange cats. I heard it's a popular breed, so please give us a call. We'd love to have you adopt one."
For more information on the adoptions, call the Woonsocket Police Department at 401-769-4444.
Newsweek has contacted the police department for more comment.
On May 23, a New York Police Department officer went a step further and adopted a kitten he found floating on a Gatorade bottle in a sewer. Officer Blomquist quickly climbed into a manhole to rescue the feline, after police received a call about the cat stuck in the sewer.
Officer Blomquist isn't the first New York City officer to adopt a kitten that he rescued on the job. An officer with the department's 46th Precinct in the Bronx borough was reportedly planning to adopt a kitten that he and his partner rescued from a garbage can in February last year.
Around 3.2 million cats enter U.S. animal shelters each year, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). 1.6 million cats are adopted each year, the organization says. Around 90,000 of the cats who enter shelters as strays are returned to their owners.
