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About 300 cats, nearly a third of them dead, were removed from an
elderly woman's Virginia home after neighbors complained of a stench coming from the house, police
said on Tuesday.
The house, less than a mile from late President George Washington's
historic Mount Vernon estate, looked neat from the outside with
manicured lawns and bright
flowers, but inside it was overflowing with wild cats, feces and urine.
"Cats were coming out of the cabinets and drawers and were inside the
walls. There were hundreds of them," Fairfax County Police officer Richard
Henry told reporters.
He said animal control officers removed 273 cats -- 86 of them dead --
over the weekend and slapped a condemnation order on the door of the
house. The woman, her husband and daughter were told to leave.
Later on, Henry said, the woman returned and attempted to smuggle an
additional 30 cats from the house. These animals were confiscated, bringing the total to more than
300.
Ruth Knueven, 82, was charged with failing to care for her animals and
of improperly disposing of them. Dozens of dead cats were found in plastic
bins around the house.
Most of the cats were inbred
and sick and were unfit for adoption, said Henry. "These
were feral cats who were given
free range of the house and almost all of them will, unfortunately, have
to be put down," he said.
Two weeks earlier, a 58-year-old woman in nearby Falls Church,
Virginia, had her home condemned after neighbors complained of an
overpowering stench coming from the property. She had hoarded 88 cats and 29 of them were
dead.
(Agencies) |
美國警方周二聲稱，他們從弗吉尼亞州一位老太家中運走了大約300只貓，其中約三分之一是死貓。之前，警方接到老太鄰居們的抗議，他們抱怨說老太的房子里散發出惡臭。
這座房子離著名的美國前總統喬治·華盛頓的維農山莊園不到一英里，從外面看起來非常干凈，草地修剪得整整齊齊，院里鮮花怒放，但屋里卻是野貓橫行，到處都是貓屎和貓尿。
“貓從櫥柜和抽屜里進進出出，有的還鉆在墻的夾縫里。這屋里得有幾百只貓。”費爾法克斯縣警官理查德·亨利對記者說。
他說，上周末動物管理部門的工作人員總共運走了273只貓——其中86只是死貓，并且在屋門上張貼了通告，要求這所屋子的女主人及其丈夫和女兒離開這棟房子。
據亨利透露，女主人后來回來過，試圖把屋里的另外三十只貓偷偷帶走。這些貓現在也已經被沒收，這樣貓的總數超過了300只。
現年82歲的魯思·科努文被指控未能照料好她的寵物，也未能恰當處置它們。從散落在屋里的塑料箱內還發現了幾十只貓的尸體。
亨利介紹說，這些貓大多是近親繁殖，是病貓，不適合領養。“它們都是野貓，可以在屋子里自由活動。遺憾的是，絕大多數貓都將被殺死。”
兩周前，弗吉尼亞瀑布教堂市附近的一位58歲婦女的房子也被宣布不能住人了，之前鄰居們也曾抱怨這座房子散發出強烈的臭味。這名婦女收藏了88只貓，其中29只是死貓。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-07-14 10:04
