house-O-feces

Mdog · September 22, 2003

check this out, the house had 130 cats living in it :thumb

130 cats removed from south side house
Felines rove in walls as bugs root through filth; building condemned

By REID J. EPSTEIN

repstein@journalsentinel.com

Last Updated: Sept. 19, 2003

Wearing a white moon suit, an air filter and duct tape covering his shoes, Donn Jacobson marched into his own private war zone Friday.

Cats Rescued

Photo/Gary Porter

One of the cats removed from a south side home waits in a cage in the front yard on Friday. The cats are being held at animal control headquarters until authorities figure out what to do with them.

Photo/Gary Porter

Donn Jacobson, animal control officer with the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission, carries out a cage Friday containing the 128th of 130 cats he has trapped in a house in the 2300 block of W. Barnard Ave. on Milwaukee's south side.

Quotable

Unbelievable squalor and filth.

- Martin Collins,

the head of the Department of Neighborhood Services

Jacobson, 35, has been trudging into a south side house twice a day for a week, carrying out cats that have crawled into the walls, ducts and ceilings of the house in the 2300 block of W. Barnard Ave. So far, he's brought out 130 of them.

"I haven't seen any mice," said Jacobson, an animal control officer for the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission.

He's also brought out one dog, a beagle. Jacobson said the dog looked well-fed.

Last week, neighbors complained about smells coming from the three-bedroom house, which is assessed for tax purposes at $144,800. When city officials checked out the house Sept. 11, they found "unbelievable squalor and filth," said Martin Collins, the head of the Department of Neighborhood Services.

Collins said he believed the number of cats to be a city record, smashing the old mark of 82, set in the late 1980s.

When inspectors and animal control officers first went into the house, cats were everywhere. They had overrun the furniture, destroyed the two cars in the garage and used the whole house as their litter box. It wasn't pretty, and still isn't.

"I go home at night and my clothes still smell, even though I have this suit over them," he said.

The smell. Oh, the smell.

Without his air filter, Jacobson can't stand in the doorway without flinching. Neither can anyone else, for that matter.

"The health department told me to close as many windows as I could to give the neighbors a break," Jacobson said.

But because of the piles of trash and cat feces, which are 2 to 3 feet deep at some points in the house, he's not been able to close them all. The brown muck that covers the floors is topped with an endless stream of ants and other bugs. The yellowed walls are stained with urine.

As bad as the scene is, it's better than it was when Jacobson first started. In 45 minutes Friday, he brought out nine black, gray and white cats, which he baited into metal cages with canned tuna.

"It's going kinda slow now," he said.

The house has been condemned by the city. Because the cats have infested the walls of the house, the building may have to be razed, Collins said.

"Once the cats breed inside the walls, its economically impossible to clean it up," he said. "You can imagine what's inside those walls, and what the house is going to smell like forever."

The house's listed owner is Irene Kustra, but she died in 1997. Collins said her adult son, Marvin Kustra, returned regularly to feed the animals. When inspectors first arrived, they found the sinks and bathtubs filled with cat food. The cats had also ripped open a 50-pound bag of dog food and "did a pretty good job" eating it, Jacobson said.

They drank water from the house's three toilets and a leaky basement pipe, he added.

The cats, and the dog, all appear to be healthy and have been transported to animal control's W. Burnham St. headquarters until authorities can figure out what to do with them, said John McDowell, a field commander for the agency.

As for Jacobson, he'll return to the house Monday morning with his traps, and surely will come out with another batch of felines.

"I'm hoping it will end soon," he said. "I'm sick of coming down here.

Mdog · September 22, 2003

cat feces, which are 2 to 3 feet deep at some points in the house

:hide :hide :thumb :hide :poop :poop :poop :poop :poop JEZUS!!!!!!! :booga

oldtinter · September 22, 2003

That's insane... :thumb

September 22, 2003

that's nasty.

September 23, 2003

I can think of a few board members past and present that can/could talk some shiot 2-3 feet deep.

:dunno

Tinitman · September 23, 2003

I remember long long ago tinting a Grand Am. Every time I got close to that car it stunk worse.

Opened the trunk and found that the guy had been using the trunk as a litter box. I bet there was 40 lbs of skankie litter in there. He moved here from California and kept the cat in the car.

I finished up the car outside to keep the shop from stinking.

That was when I first started in this biz, didn't want to loose a dime.

September 23, 2003

P U

September 23, 2003

I remember long long ago tinting a Grand Am. Every time I got close to that car it stunk worse.
Opened the trunk and found that the guy had been using the trunk as a litter box. I bet there was 40 lbs of skankie litter in there. He moved here from California and kept the cat in the car.

I finished up the car outside to keep the shop from stinking.

That was when I first started in this biz, didn't want to loose a dime.

I'da sent the bastard packin' and lived off of Mac 'n Cheese Tinitman.