The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a case of animal cruelty in Fayetteville, North Carolina after dead cats were found in a mobile home in the 200 block of Redfish Drive off U.S. 301. The police were alerted to the home when the property manager asked for a wellness check after a foul odor was discovered coming from the home.
Fearing someone had died, neighbors complained to the property manager about the smell. Firefighters were called in by police when they couldn’t get inside the home to execute a search warrant. Furniture was blocking the entrance.
Lt. Sean Swain, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office stated
“The neighbors complained to us about the smell. We arrived and saw cats in bad shape.”
ABC11 reported at least a dozen abandoned animals were found inside. Two have been rescued and taken to a vet, according to this news media.
The Fayetteville Observer reported three cats were found inside the home. One of the cats had to be euthanized, one was found dead and there may be more cats dead inside the home.
Dr. John Lauby, the director of Cumberland County Animal Control stated
“The hoarder situation is such that it is unsafe to move anything inside the trailer in order to see if there are any more deceased animals in the trailer. No more live animals have been heard inside the trailer.”
Soon after entering the home an Animal Control officer was bitten by a cat. Her injuries were described as minor and she was treated at urgent care. Sheriff’s deputies wore hazmat suits as they searched the home. They left after it was determined that air quality and hoarding were too dangerous inside the home.
A Cumberland County Property Inspector will inspect the home on Tuesday and determine whether it should be condemned. A neighbor said the homeowner didn’t live in the home but brought a bag of food by every day after work.
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department spoke with the homeowner by phone but she refused to give them her location. The case is still under investigation.
Elisa
These cases continue to rise. Such a plague people are on the earth. I see mandatory spay neuter coming and I hope and pray this decreases the numbers of these hoarding cases that have become so frequent.
My county does not have mandatory S/N and you can license an intact dog or cat for 15 bucks per year. That’s if you bother to be legal. My county does it so poor people aren’t burdened even though there are TNR, free spay, low cost in fact the local foundation now offers free s/n with an income up to 50K.