Crime & Safety
172 Cats Rescued From Sussex Co. Hoarder Home
While some of the cats can eventually become family pets, others are never expected to become adoptable. Those cats will become barn cats.

ROXBURY, NJ — 172 cats "in dire straits" were taken in by local shelters after an animal hoarder asked neighbors for help, St. Huberts Animal Welfare Shelter said.
The cats were found in a Sussex County home at the end of June. All 172 belonged to the same man: a widower who began hoarding cats after the death of his wife, the shelter told NBC 4. The home has no running water or electricity.
The homeowner will not be charged, shelter officials told CBS 2. The owner reportedly loved the cats, but become overwhelmed by their needs, and eventually asked for help.
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"He was doing his best to feed and provide water for the animals, but it had really gotten out of control," Kathleen Schatzmann, the president of St. Huberts, told the Daily Record.
Early on in the rescue process, the center anticipated taking in about 100 cats, a number that quickly swelled to 172. It is the largest rescue in the shelter's history, CBS 2 reported.
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While some cats were in fine health, others will need "weeks of specialized care before they can be adopted," the shelter said, and some are expected to never become adoptable (the rescue plans on homing those cats to local barns).
All the cats required vaccines, deworming and flea treatments, and the rescue also is underway spaying and neutering the cats. Because of the volume of the cats, rescue dogs kept at the rescue's "Noah's Campus" have been moved to an adoption kennel in Madison, and the "Noah's Campus" has been transformed into a place the cats can recover together.
The shelter has asked for donations to help fund the cats' recovery. You can find more information on that here.
Main image: a stock photo of kittens, not kittens rescued from the home. Via Shutterstock.
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