Saturday, May 17, 2008

49 cats seized from home after neighbors complain about odor

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Meadow Lake Valencia County Animal Control officers say this week that they came across one of the worst cases of hoarding that they've ever seen.

Neighbors alerted authorities about an odor coming from the home of 46-year-old Heidi Burge at 40 Navajo Lane in Meadow Lake. Erik Tanner, director of animal control, said when he and John Jaramillo, an animal control officer, drove up to the property on Tuesday, they could smell a strong odor of ammonia — from animal urine and feces — even before they opened the door to their truck.

"It's a distinct odor," Tanner said. "If you've ever smelled it, you know what it is immediately."

Tanner said as they walked up to the front door of the single-wide mobile home, they saw a lot of clutter in the yard, along with numerous cats running about. That's when Burge came out of one of the two campers parked on the property.

"We told her we wanted to see how the animals were being kept, and she complied," Tanner said. "The conditions we saw were completely unacceptable."

Tanner described the house as being covered in cat feces — in some places over a foot deep. He said in other places the feces were packed tightly to the floor, on countertops and in cupboards.

"There was food left out for them, but a lot of animals came out with obvious signs of illness," Tanner said. "There were cats not only in the house, but in both campers, in the garage and running loose outside."

Two dogs were being kept in a 10-by-8-foot pen outside. Tanner said there was so much feces in the pen that he couldn't see any soil underneath, and that, in one area, the waste was as high as 10 inches deep.

After a search warrant was executed on Burge's property Tuesday, authorities seized a total of 36 cats and two dogs. Animal control officers were forced to wear protective gear because of the odor and condition of the house, Tanner said. On Wednesday, Burge willingly surrendered 13 more cats to authorities.

"There are a lot of cats still there," Tanner said. "But after that first day, we decided we weren't going back in because of the ammonia level. It could be very dangerous. She has acclimated to the surroundings, but anyone else who goes into the house could be subject to severe respiratory problems."

County code enforcement director Ruben Chavez said that due to the condition of the mobile home, and other structures, he believed the county could use its mobile home abatement ordinance to condemn the property. "I told the zoning officers to go ahead and file a nuisance claim right away," Chavez said.

He went on to say that, to expedite the abatement, the county might have to get the assistance of the state's mobile home authority. If a judge will not give the order for abatement of the property, Chavez said, he wasn't sure what other recourse the county would have.

"It's something that has to be taken care of one way or another," he said. "I certainly don't think it's cleanable."

Tanner said Adult Protective Services has also been informed of Burge's situation.

Attempts to reach Heidi Burge for comment were unsuccessful.

Burge has been charged with 40 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, and Tanner said additional charges will follow after they get a total head count of all the animals. He estimated that Burge had close to 100 cats on the property.

"This is one of the most severe cases of animal hoarding that I've ever seen," Tanner said. "Most of the time, we're lucky and we get to them before it gets to this point."

Tanner said Burge moved to Meadow Lake about eight years ago and started "collecting" the animals then. He said that, when questioned, Burge told them that she was "saving" the cats from harm and doing what she believed was the right thing.

The animal control director said a local veterinarian is examining several of the cats seized this week. Tanner said he expects that a lot of the animals have a contagious cat disease that may have infected most, if not all, of the felines at the Meadow Lake property.

Magistrate Tina Gallegos, who has been assigned to the case, ordered that any cats or dogs found to be either diseased or unsocialized should be humanely euthanized.

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