Authorities made a horrific discovery when they checked on an elderly lady in a New York home last week.
Inside the house, owned by known animal hoarder Bertha Ryan, were 150 cats living in what was described as “deplorable conditions.”
“The house is in a deplorable condition. This is not what we expected to find,” Sgt. S.P. Dauphinais, commander of the Brunswick barracks, told the Albany Times-Union of the home that is located at 1106 River Road in Pleasantdale.
This is not the first time that Ryan has been found hoarding animals. Four years ago, Ryan and her sister Regina Millard were found to have had 77 cats living in their two vehicles in Bennington, Vermont by authorities. There was reportedly one cat found dead in the trunk of the vehicle, and the other cats were covered in fecal matter.
Brad Shear, executive director of the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, said that Ryan has also been involved in at least two other incidents of cat hoarding over the years.
“This makes 450 cats,” Shear said.
150 cats rescued from the walls of a suspected hoarder's home http://t.co/hAOg5dOUVv
— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) October 30, 2014
During the October welfare check, authorities found the 150 cats, not only in the house, but inside the walls of the house as well. There were so many that it took authorities two days to remove them all.
The rescued cats were taken to Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands for observation.