A massive Humane Society trailer was loaded up with cats as they were captured in and around a Lane 11 residence south of Powell.
"We're doing a search warrant to collect cats," said County Attorney Bryan Skoric at the scene.
Workers assembled cages to carry captured cats from the home to an area where they were examined and tagged by Humane Society workers, and then loaded onto the trailer.
The Humane Society said in a press release that the cats were being taken to the Park County Fairgrounds for temporary care and holding. The cats will likely be taken to larger communities to be adopted out.Within city of Powell limits, homeowners may own a maximum of two adult pets, but in the county's unincorporated areas, there are no maximums.
"There is no number -- it's the manner in which they're kept," Skoric said. He said the allegations were that these cats were not being properly cared for.
Adam Parascandola, the Humane Society’s director of animal cruelty issues who was leading efforts at the scene Thursday, said the home’s wooden floors were soaked with cat urine and feces. He said the high levels of ammonia in the house made the air potentially harmful to breathe for both animals and humans; workers in the home wore masks as they removed cats.
"It's definitely pretty unsanitary," Parascandola said.
“I have not gone into the residence nor will I,” said Skoric.
Parascandola said Humane Society workers were using live traps and nets to catch the cats throughout the house -- including the ceiling."We do a lot of them (cat-catching operations) so we know where their hiding spots are," he said.
Skoric, who has been county attorney since 2003, recalled an early 1990's case where an elderly Cody woman had a large number of animals, but "Since I've been here, certainly we've had nothing like this," he said.
Skoric declined to name the three individuals who were living at the residence. Clifton Taylor was listed in the phone book as living at the 900 block address on Lane 11.
No criminal charges had been filed in the case as of Thursday morning.
The affidavit of probable cause used to conduct the search will not be publicly available until the warrant is returned to Circuit Court. That was expected to happen perhaps sometime tomorrow.
Skoric said the help of the Humane Society — which will pay for nearly all of the operation -- was critical. Parascandola estimated the Humane Society's cost at between $40,000 and $50,000; kennels and other materials were donated by PetSmart Charities.
"It's an operation that needed a great deal of cooperation," Skoric said, adding, "Quite frankly I don't know how Park County would have handled it (without the Humane Society).”
The Tribune will update this story as it develops.
Humane Society video of the operation is embedded below:
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