ABOVE: OSPCA executes search warrant on cat hoarding house. Mark Carcasole reports.
TORONTO – For weeks, residents have been pleading with city officials to clear the cats from 324 Beech Avenue.
The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) has been criticized in recent weeks for not clearing the house of cats after dozens of complaints from neighbours about the smell.
“We can’t just enter the home. We have to have informed consent from the owner,” OSPCA investigator Brad Dewar said. “If the owner is not available or not present, then it is through a warrant and that takes its due process.”
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So far, neighbours have trapped close to 47 cats roaming around the home.
On Friday, dressed in full hazmat gear, inspectors with OSPCA executed search warrants to assess the situation inside the home.
They couldn’t find any cats. But OSPCA investigators fear the animals could be hiding inside the home.
“We’re making attempts at every effort to try to secure any animal that may be inside,” Dewar said. “Live traps have been set throughout the house.”
The OSPCA investigators were joined by veterinarian Dr. Jonathon Mitelman who has treated many of the cats already captured.
“The stench of ammonia was just overwhelming,” he said. “Litter boxes strewn throughout. The entire floor was a bed of newspaper and urine. Flies, cobwebs, feces all over the place.”
The OSPCA refused to comment on potential charges the owner of the home could face.
– With files from Mark Carcasole
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