Police found 40 malnourished cats in one house. Then, they found 50 more — dead
A Pennsylvania couple faces more than three dozen charges of animal cruelty and neglect after police discovered roughly 90 cats in their home, more than half of them dead.
Marcia Dinardo, 67, and Thomas Crory, 59, of Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, were initially investigated back in April, when police were called after a report of domestic violence, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
That day, they instead found more than 40 cats in varying states of poor health, according to WTAE. All told, police eventually removed 41 cats from the home, where investigators said the living conditions were “deplorable.”
According to WPXI, shelters and volunteer groups say most of the cats were malnourished, going blind and had severe fleas, ear mites and upper respiratory problems. A criminal complaint also alleged that the entire basement of the house served as the cats’ litter box. Eventually, eight of the cats had to be euthanized, the station reports.
When news outlets spoke to Dinardo and Crory, they insisted they were simply trying to help cats and sacrificed to take care of them.
“We took care of these cats, fed these cats at our expense,” Crory told WPXI. “I would not hurt an animal for anything.”
“They would run down the steps and look up like, 'Hi Mom, come on, let's go.' I miss them. I miss them a lot,” Dinardo told WTAE.
However, the couple did tell WTAE that things “got out of control” because they both suffered from illnesses that prevented them from fully caring for the animals.
On Friday, police returned to the couple’s home, and say they found more evidence of neglect and cruelty, according to KDKA.
As Pittsburgh police entered the house, they noticed that their feet “were squishing in the carpet, which was filled with urine and animal waste,” an officer told the station.
According to the Post-Gazette, police discovered three cats still alive in the house, as well as garbarge bags, plastic bins and coffee cans filled with dead cats and kittens. All told, police say they discovered more than 50 bodies of dead animals.
As Crory and Dinardo were arrested, Crory told WTAE that they had been storing the dead bodies of the cats for more than a year, with the intent to cremate them at some point.
“I did not get a chance to bury them,” Crory said. “I actually wanted them cremated. Every time I got the money to do it something would go awry.”
Based off the initial April incident, the couple is facing 42 criminal charges, most for cruelty to animals, per WPXI. According to the Post-Gazette, police plan to file more charges after Friday’s discovery.
According to the Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine, there are thousands of recorded instances of “animal hoarding,” when pet owners collect large numbers of pets to the point that they are unable to care for all of them, and there is believed to be many more unreported cases.
Two states, Illinois and Hawaii, have laws that specifically address animal hoarding,
This story was originally published July 9, 2017 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Police found 40 malnourished cats in one house. Then, they found 50 more — dead."