BREAKING NEWS:
New developments in the Cicero "cat lady" case have been released today. 81 cats have been euthanized after being seized from a home in the 1800 block of 57th Avenue. Cicero officials told the Chicago Sun-Times that the woman WILL NOT BE CITED.
Reported earlier this week via Examiner, original reports indicated a total of 50 living cats were seized and several were found dead on the premises. Reported today, a larger number, actual count of 81 living cats were found. All 81 of the cats have had to be euthanized. Additional dead cats were also found on the premises, too date a total of 12 dead cats have been discovered totaling 93.
The cats were discovered by firefighters after a social worker noticed the hoard while doing a well-being check on a 70 year-old woman.
According to UPI, Cicero spokesman Ray Hanania said the cats were taken to the Animal Care League in Oak Park for evaluation, included was testing each cat for feline leukemia, a highly contagious disease among cats. The cats were confirmed positive.
Hanania confirmed that the 70 year-old woman that many have deemed "The Cat Lady" has temporarily moved in with relatives or friends while various crews work to clean her the property. Hanania also said authorities will continue to set traps on the woman’s property and expect to find a “few” more cats this week.
According to The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), "In addition to the horrific animal cruelty involved, hoarding creates such highly unsanitary conditions that the properties of hoarders, contaminated with fecal matter and urine, are often condemned. What’s more, a single hoarding case involving dozens if not hundreds of animals can easily bankrupt a local humane society and severely strain volunteer resources, and the nuisance and cost to local authorities and law enforcement officials is ongoing."
The ALDF also offers the following information to individuals and communities that face hoarding problems:
What can be done from a legal standpoint to stop or prevent hoarding?
Hoarding is very difficult to prevent, but it can be stopped. There is a need for public education and for communities to know how to recognize the basic signs of hoarding: the keeping of abnormally large numbers of animals, the failure to provide proper nutrition and care, and serious neglect. In the short term, neglected and abused animals need to be removed from a hoarder’s property, but only long term changes to animal law can prevent hoarding. ALDF recommends:
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Civil Options for Stopping Animal Hoarders
Concerned members of the public need a civil right of action to initiate a case against a hoarder. In most states, a prosecutor must be the one to bring charges against animal hoarders for committing acts of cruelty to animals. Provisions like North Carolina’s 19A Statute, which ALDF used in the unprecedented ALDF v. Woodley case in Sanford, N.C., allow any private citizen or organization to bring civil charges against abusers for violating animal cruelty laws. ALDF has drafted a Model Law for a Private Right of Action, based on North Carolina’s unique provision that, if passed in other states, would greatly reduce the burden on local prosecutors and allow concerned citizens and animal protection groups to stop the tragedy of hoarding in their own communities throughout the country.
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Cost Mitigation Laws
Taxpayers should not pay the cost of caring for animals rescued from criminal abusers. Because hoarding cases often involve hundreds of animals, the expense of providing food, housing, and veterinary care for animals seized from a hoarder can easily cripple a local humane society or animal control agency. We need cost mitigation provisions to ensure that the hoarder, rather than the local taxpayer, must pay for the costs of caring for those animals while the animals are in the custody of a local shelter after seizure.
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Sentencing including Mandatory Forfeiture
Hoarders have clearly demonstrated they are a serious threat to the well-being of animals entrusted to their care. Their rights to all of their animal victims should be forfeited upon conviction, thereby allowing these victims a chance at a better life in a new, loving home. Additionally, because statistics demonstrate that the vast majority of hoarders will recommit similar crimes in the future if given the opportunity, convicted hoarders should be barred from owning, possessing, or having any direct contact with animals. ALDF’s “First Strike and You’re Out” model law seeks to address this issue.
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