It was a sad and shocking sight that met the police and employees of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority on 3 December last year. In the apartment that the woman owned, and partly in an outbuilding, 17 dead cats were found. In addition, there were 62 live cats there who lived in objectionable conditions. Many of the cats looked emaciated or morbidly underweight. 47 of the animals had to be killed by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. A further 15 cats were placed in custody. Eight of these later had to be euthanized. The prosecution believes the woman did not ensure that the animals had sufficient access to food and water. The woman is also not supposed to have ensured the correct treatment or killing of sick cats. Among other things, live cats walked freely with dead cats, which posed a risk of infection. Meeting in court The woman in her 60s has for several years had a leadership role in the Animal Protection’s local team in the area. On Tuesday, she appeared in the Vestre Innlandet district court accused of gross violations of the Animal Welfare Act. She denies criminal guilt. In court, she stated that the basement flat functioned as a quarantine station for Animal Protection. There was no one but herself to supervise the cats there. According to the woman, it was because the organization lacked volunteers who could help. The woman said that she had had extra challenges in the last week before the Norwegian Food Safety Authority knocked on the door. She is said to have been bitten by a cat and also sprained her hand. With an injured arm, she was unable to take care of the animals as normal. – That is not how it has been and it is not how it should be. But it escalated in the last week. There is nothing more to say about it. It is not something I am proud of, said the woman in court. The woman said it was difficult to say no when people approached them about cats in need of help. A short time before, they had, among other things, taken in 20 cats which she described as “almost wild”. If Animal Protection did not help these animals, no one else would, she said. She admitted that they had taken in more cats than they had capacity for – I should have asked for help. I see it in hindsight, she said. THE PARTIES: Prosecutor Knut Wold and defender Ole Herman Frang in Vestre Innlandet district court. Three days have been set aside in court to deal with the case against the woman. Photo: Alexander Nordby / news Cats covered in faeces She stated that there were usually fixed routines for feeding the cats every day. Docks were emptied and floors were normally vacuumed and washed regularly. But in the last week it had failed, she said. Photos that were shown in court support that not everything was as it should be. In the basement flat, there were dead cats on the floor in one of the rooms. Other rooms were marked by cat excrement on the floor, furniture and elsewhere. The woman and another person were arrested and charged by the police in connection with the action on 3 December last year. But the charge against the other person has been dropped. According to the indictment, the woman kept 53 cats in an apartment of 140 square metres, and nine cats in an outbuilding. The woman is accused of having failed to ensure sufficient cleaning of the living spaces for the cats so that the cat cages, floors, furniture and other things were covered in faeces. As a result, several cats had faeces in their fur when they were found. She is also accused of keeping cats in cages with a size of 55x95x65 cm for a long time. The air quality must have been very bad there. A senior inspector and veterinarian from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority testified about what she had found at the woman’s home. The reason they went there was a tip. – I was completely unprepared for what was about to meet us. We saw right away that something was very wrong. A large number of cats came towards us as soon as the door was opened and a dead cat was lying by a water bowl, she said. Large parts of the evening and night were spent getting an overview of sick animals and euthanizing cats. On the first night, 30 cats were euthanized. The senior inspector also said that the place looked like it had not been cleaned for a long time. Among other things, there was a lot of old cat litter there, she said. The penalty is three years’ imprisonment for the violations of the Animal Welfare Act the woman is accused of. But the prosecutor Knut Wold has said that he has already said that it will not be relevant to have such a severe punishment, if she is found guilty.
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Had to euthanize 55 cats that were found at animal shelters in Innlandet – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
