*OMG* Hundreds of dead cats found in woman's yard
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey...5548185690.xml
Hundreds of dead cats found in woman's yard
East Orange resident operates rescue agency
Over two decades, Marlene Kess built a reputation in Manhattan (NYC) as a
caregiver of last resort for homeless and dying cats. If her rescue and
adoption agency, KittyKind (http://www.kittykind.org/), couldn't place a sick
animal, she took it home herself, overseeing its recuperation or caring for it
until its death.
Yesterday, authorities discovered what Kess' philosophy looked like in
practice. Summoned to the woman's East Orange (NJ) home by a neighbor
complaining about a stench, city health inspectors found 48 cats inside the
house -- 38 of them in one room -- and more than 200 dead cats stuffed into
garbage bags in the back yard.
The sight of so many decomposing corpses -- and the fetid odor they
produced -- sickened animal-welfare officers and others who responded to the
two-story home on State Street.
"Oh my God, it was awful," said Michael Fowler of the Associated Humane
Societies, the state's largest shelter group. "The smell was horrible."
Kess -- the 56-year-old founder and executive director of KittyKind, which
operates one of New York City's few no-kill shelters -- moved to East Orange
from Manhattan in July. Dozens of cats, apparently, moved with her. More
arrived while she was there.
"She claims that she takes in sick cats -- cats with feline leukemia -- and
that she is a known rescuer who people will bring their cats to when they're
dying," said Sgt. Joseph Bierman of the New Jersey Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals.
When those cats did die, they went into large, heavy-duty garbage bags. Then
they went into the yard, which backs to a parking lot used by the East Orange
Board of Education and the East Orange Community Charter School.
Bierman said he counted 21 garbage bags, each containing 10 or more
vermin-infested carcasses. In some cases, he said, the cats had become so
decomposed a precise number of bodies could not be determined. Kess had been
placing dead cats in the yard since she moved in, Bierman said.
"I haven't seen anything quite like this," Bierman said. "Certainly it's an
unusual incident."
Kess, seen arguing with animal-welfare officials outside the home, declined to
comment.
She was cited for several East Orange health code violations, among them
keeping an unlawful number of animals, harboring dead animals and creating a
potential environmental hazard by keeping the corpses on her property, city
sanitary inspector Frank Habegger said last night.
In addition, the SPCA charged her with 38 counts of failing to properly
shelter cats. The counts stem from the cats being locked together in a front
room. Some of the cats were healthy, while others were ill. Under state
regulations, anyone keeping large numbers of animals must separate the sick
from the healthy.
Ten other healthy cats were roaming free in the house.
Both investigations were continuing. This morning, public works crews were
expected to remove the carcasses from the back yard, and necropsies were to be
performed on some of the animals to determine a cause of death, said Darryl
Jeffries, a city spokesman.
Kess was allowed to keep the 48 living cats in her home because she said she
would separate the sick and healthy animals, Bierman said. SPCA officers were
planning to return to the home to ensure she does, he said.
She apparently planned to bury the corpse-laden garbage bags in a large hole
that had been recently dug in the back yard, Bierman said.
"It was almost like a grave," he said, describing it as about 5 feet deep and
7 feet wide. Kess told investigators she planned to plant a tree in the spot
but hadn't yet gotten around to buying one, Bierman said. A handyman employed
by Kess told investigators he dug the hole for a pool, the investigator said.
Kess is well-known in cat rescue circles in Manhattan, where KittyKind
operates a shelter within a Petco at Union Square. A longtime resident of
Greenwich Village, she has been quoted frequently in small community
newspapers about her efforts -- and struggles -- to care for cats that nobody
else wants.
"Animal overpopulation is a big problem," she told one community newspaper,
the New York Resident, in 2002. "People are very irresponsible."
Despite the difficulty placing cats, she has criticized New York City's high
euthanasia rate, and she has championed the idea of seeing cats through even
terminal illnesses.
Not all animal-welfare advocates agree with that philosophy.
"There are some things worse than death for animals, especially when they are
sick and people are trying to needlessly extend their lives because they want
to save every animal," said Roseanne Trezza, executive director of the
Associated Humane Societies. "They refuse to recognize that we simply can't
save them all, no matter how much we all care for these creatures, and no
matter how much it hurts to euthanize them."
