99 cats have been seized at an upstate New York Home with more than 60 of them found dead.
The Associated Press reported that the raid happened by animal welfare organizations and the police at a home in Wright, which is 20 miles away from Albany in Shoharie County.
The Animal Shelter of Shoharie reported 67 dead cats. The rest of the animals were taken to the shelter.
Shoharie County Sheriff Tony Desmond said to NBC News that someone gave the owner a pregnant cat two and a half years ago and then the family of cats just multiplied until what was found at the home.
NBC News reported that two dogs were also seized from the house that was said to be in "deplorable conditions".
"I would say it's a case of animal hoarding," said Schoharie County Sheriff Tony Desmond to NBC News, "I know there's a lot of talk about hoarding of animals and this certainly is one of them."
Kerrie Colin, the manager of the Schoharie Valley Animal Shelter said to NBC News that the staff is already overwelmed with the amount of animals.
"We're low on kitty litter," Colin said to NBC News. "We've had both cat food and kitty litter donated (Thursday morning) but we're going to go through a lot of it because we're dumping kitty litter boxes three or four times a day just so the shelter doesn't smell."
The animal shelter is in need of more funds in order to pay for ongoing vet care as well as more cat food and litter.
The Daily Star reported that the home and the cats belong to a 49-year-old woman, but her name has not been released.
The dead cats were reportedly in the freezer individually wrapped in plastic. The Daily Star reported that authorities convinced the woman to surrender 25 of her cats but she kept three of them that each had litters of eight each.
Colin said she had never seen this many pets at one time.
"It's a big undertaking for us, especially when you see how small our facility is," Colin said to The Daily Star. "They have to be brought back to health, and we do have a couple of people who already want to foster some of them."
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