A report about an abandoned boat leads to the rescue of dozens of cats and kittens.
When Tacoma police officers checked out the sailboat off Owen Beach, they realized it technically wasn’t abandoned when the eyes of dozens of tiny, four-legged occupants stared back at them.
They called in Pierce County Animal Control.
“There was a couple (cats) who would come up to you, but most of them are pretty fearful,” said Animal Control Officer Cheri Page, who helped corral 31 cats into crates so they could be carried off the filthy vessel, which was no easy task.
“There’s the challenge of the boat itself. It’s pretty close quarters, and because it is a sailboat there’s lots of nooks and crannies that cats can hide into, which is part of the reason we weren’t able to get all of the cats (Friday),” Page said.
She says they’ll need to go back to rescue 11 – maybe more – cats that are still on board. “We’re going by cat math. If you see one, you times that by ten.”
Page says she’s covered suspected animal-hoarding cases before, and there’s a common theme.
“People start with just a few cats, and they’re not spayed or neutered. And unfortunately, they do what cats do and make more cats.”
She says it’s clear the cats had been on the boat for several months or more and that someone had been bringing them food and water.
They appeared to be relatively healthy, aside from fleas.
Now they’re being cared for at the Tacoma Pierce County Humane Society in the hopes they can be adopted out, while police search for the boat’s owner.
In Tacoma, you can have a total of six licensed cats and/or dogs. You face fines if you have more than that.
Hording cases can be prosecuted under Washington State’s animal cruelty law, with the potential for fines, jail time, or a lifetime ban from owning pets.