A volunteer group found at least 105 cats living in a Toronto home over the weekend, CP24 reported.
That is how many cats have been surrendered to animal groups, the television station reported. Toronto Cat Rescue, Toronto Animal Services and the Toronto Humane Society, went to the home to retrieve the felines. The woman living at the residence gave up the cats, but there are additional cats that have not been removed, CP24 reported.
“We’re working as a team on getting them all surrendered,” Mary Lou Leiher, program manager with Toronto Animal Services, told the television station, adding that current laws allow residents to keep no more than six cats in a home.
Most of the cats appear to be in good condition overall, Leiher said.
"We are not considering laying any charges at this time because (the woman) is being very cooperative," Leiher told CP24.
Toronto Cat Rescue Executive Director Belinda Vandersluis said her organization is fostering about 50 of the cats.
"Our job is to get those cats medical care, get them socialized, get them anything they need before putting them up for adoption on our website and through partner pet stores," Vandersluis told CP24.
Vandersluis said the woman was an animal hoarder and was not intentionally being cruel or neglectful toward the animals.
“Most of the time hoarders, or people who have too many animals, don’t recognize that they have too many animals until it’s kind of too late and they feel like this is the only option for these cats,” Vandersluis told the television station. “They often feel like they’re doing the right thing, but the reality is that with this many cats in one home, you couldn’t possibly have a good feeding situation for all of the cats. There would be a lot of competition. Feeding 120 cats would be an enormous burden.”
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