Tri-County Humane Society Treats 93 Cats From Suspected Hoarder

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) - Thursday, the Crosby Police Department and the Minnesota Federated Humane Society conducted a search warrant at a home in Crosby and removed 101 cats believed to be living in unsafe conditions.

Friday, 93 of those cats are receiving medical care at the Tri-County Humane Society in St. Cloud.

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Merit Ortega is the Executive Director of the Tri-County Humane Society. She says a small army of volunteers were waiting at the shelter when the cats arrived.

There were two staff from the Minnesota Federated Humane Society and about a dozen of our staff who worked on the intake. They arrived in a big trailer and one by one they were brought in with carriers. Our staff scanned them for microchips. They vaccinated them. They assessed them, checking them over a little bit. We discovered they all had fleas. Some of them were dehydrated and not doing real well.

One cat was microchipped and reunited with their owners Thursday night. The owners say they lost that cat more than seven years ago.

Photo: Tri-County Humane Society

Ortega says the staff was surprised at how friendly most of the animals were. The biggest challenge was two litters of kittens that had to be matched with their mothers.
She says the cats will be treated as strays and kept for five days waiting for their owners before being available for adoption.

Photo: Tri-County Humane Society.

Ortega says she hopes the community will help defray the costs of this large operation.

This is going to require extra staffing on our part, overtime pay, not to mention all of the veterinary care and medications, (and) we're going to spay and neuter them all. More than that, there's the food and litter and all of the things that go into housing. We're looking to the community for support financially to help us fund this large case, and we're looking for adopters. After the five-day hold, these cats are going to be going up for adoption.

Donations of food and litter, as well as financial donations, can be made at the Tri-County Humane Society.