100 Cats Found in Woodbridge Condo

Woodbridge, NJ - Some cats were dead. Others were living in the attic and inside walls.

The state ASPCA removed approximately 100 cats and kittens from a Woodbridge condo Tuesday morning, in the Harrowsgate Apartments off Gill Lane in Iselin, pictured above. The condo was trashed, covered in feces, urine and garbage. There still may be up to 40 cats roaming outside near the property, and Woodbridge Animal Control will try over the next week to trap and remove them, an ASPCA spokesman told Patch.

As of noon Tuesday, Woodbridge Township removed 23 live cats, and at least two were taken to the vet for treatment. More than 10 cats were found deceased, and the township will probably locate more, a Woodbridge spokesman said.

"There is a 'guesstimate' of maybe 20-30 more 'live' cats in the structure. We don’t know yet, given that many are (in) the walls and other inaccessible areas," said spokesman John Hagerty.

Hazmat crews were called in due to the smell of animal waste and likely dead cats, whose bodies had begun to decay. The condo has a heavy smell of urine, feces and dead animals throughout, Hagerty said.

Someone called in an anonymous tip last week about the cats. In an unrelated incident, 36 cats were removed Tuesday from a home in tony Colts Neck, New Jersey Tuesday. 17 dogs and puppies covered in their own waste and fleas were removed from a Keyport home Saturday. Warm weather can exacerbate the odor of animal waste, prompting anonymous calls to the ASPCA.

The Harrowsgate condo owners told News 12 New Jersey they are bankrupt, in the process of foreclosure and that they tried to take in the cats after a cousin died, but the felines multiplied too quickly. All of their money is now spent just trying to pay for cat food.

"I couldn’t afford it. It just escalated, I didn’t have the money,” Richard Dennis said. “I tried to get people to help me out and work with me, but I would make phone calls and not get any back; it just got out of control. It was very hard trying to keep up with the smell and everything like that, but in a kind of a way I’m glad it can go to a foreclosure the way it did."

No charges have been filed against the couple as of now.