RAPID CITY - Workers from Humane Society of the Black Hills discovered about 100 cats living in a Rapid City house Monday while serving a search warrant with the Pennington County Sheriff's Office.
Phil Olson, executive director of the humane society, said the cats were living in three rooms in the lower level of the house in the Canyon Lake Park area. The rooms were saturated with cat feces and urine.
"The smell was beyond anything I've ever experienced," Olson said.
He said after a maintenance worker came to the house to do repair work and reported the foul smell, the humane society drafted a search warrant with the help of the Pennington County State's Attorney's Office.
The sheriff's office then served the warrant with humane-society employees present.
Lt. Lynn McLane of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office said the sheriff's office assisted in the serving of the search warrant as a precaution to ensure it went smoothly.
Rapid City municipal codes and South Dakota laws prohibit keeping animals without providing appropriate sanitation.
Humane society agents impounded 63 cats, and 13 others were taken to veterinary hospitals for treatment and observation. Workers also found seven or eight dead cats. Workers were unable to capture 15 cats inside the house and an additional 15 outside.
Olson said the cats were provided with three litter boxes and about 2 pounds of cat litter. The floor of one room was lined with 4 inches of urine-saturated newspaper.
He said gathering the cats was difficult because they were living in an old couch, in a television set, behind filing cabinets, under a stove and under a washer and dryer. Empty cat-food cans were scattered on the floor.
The cats were not socialized, and it took several humane society workers from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to gather them.
"It was a tough day," Olson said. "Sometimes, doing what's right for animals doesn't feel good, and this was one of those days."
Olson said the woman who lives in the house fed the cats but didn't provide sufficient water.
He said the cats are settling down and that all will likely survive. Veterinarians are examining all of the cats.
The woman who lives in the house has not been charged criminally, but the humane society continues to investigate the case.
Olson said the housing of that many cats will take a lot of the humane society's resources. Donations of money, food, cat litter and other pet supplies can be dropped off or mailed to the shelter at 1820 E. Saint Patrick St.
He said he expects to have a large veterinary bill from the incident.
Contact Katie Brown at 394-8318 or katie.brown@rapidcityjournal.com
