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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) |
美国警方周二声称，他们从弗吉尼亚州一位老太家中运走了大约300只猫，其中约三分之一是死猫。之前，警方接到老太邻居们的抗议，他们抱怨说老太的房子里散发出恶臭。
这座房子离著名的美国前总统乔治·华盛顿的维农山庄园不到一英里，从外面看起来非常干净，草地修剪得整整齐齐，院里鲜花怒放，但屋里却是野猫横行，到处都是猫屎和猫尿。
“猫从橱柜和抽屉里进进出出，有的还钻在墙的夹缝里。这屋里得有几百只猫。”费尔法克斯县警官理查德·亨利对记者说。
他说，上周末动物管理部门的工作人员总共运走了273只猫——其中86只是死猫，并且在屋门上张贴了通告，要求这所屋子的女主人及其丈夫和女儿离开这栋房子。
据亨利透露，女主人后来回来过，试图把屋里的另外三十只猫偷偷带走。这些猫现在也已经被没收，这样猫的总数超过了300只。
现年82岁的鲁思·科努文被指控未能照料好她的宠物，也未能恰当处置它们。从散落在屋里的塑料箱内还发现了几十只猫的尸体。
亨利介绍说，这些猫大多是近亲繁殖，是病猫，不适合领养。“它们都是野猫，可以在屋子里自由活动。遗憾的是，绝大多数猫都将被杀死。”
两周前，弗吉尼亚瀑布教堂市附近的一位58岁妇女的房子也被宣布不能住人了，之前邻居们也曾抱怨这座房子散发出强烈的臭味。这名妇女收藏了88只猫，其中29只是死猫。
（中国日报网站译） |
Updated: 2005-07-14 10:04
