A couple have been discovered dead inside their home – along with 150 starving cats there were living in filth and had even gone into the walls and ceiling.
Police arrived at ‘a horrific scene’ with the cats ‘living in squalor inside a small, dilapidated home’, SPCA Westchester tweeted on Thursday.
The SPCA called the undertaking ‘our largest rescue ever’.
Cops found the felines at the home on Cordial Road in Yorktown Heights, New York, after a family member of the couple requested a welfare check. They found the couple deceased.
‘Officials were unable to clear the scene until our rescue team removed most of the cats, who were found everywhere including the walls and ceilings,’ wrote the SPCA.
The man and woman were not immediately identified by police. They are believed to have been husband and wife. Autopsies are being conducted to determine their causes of death.
‘Collectively, we determined that the death does not appear to be the result of foul play,’ stated Yorktown Police Chief Robert Noble. ‘However, no death not of natural causes is inherently suspicious.’
All the cats, Abyssinian mixes, appeared to have been neglected for years. They were ‘sick and suffering with upper respiratory, eye and skin infections, malnutrition, dehydration, and sadly, some have more severe injuries that require immediate medical attention’, the SPCA wrote.
Many of the cats looked pregnant. One of them gave birth while being transported to an animal rescue.
Volunteers have been helping to feed the cats and give them water, but the SPCA is asking for donations as it anticipates the veterinary care and rehabilitation for all the felines will cost more than $40,000.
‘Our newest rescues desperately need your support,’ the SPCA said. ‘Even after all that they’ve been through, the cats are incredibly sweet and just want to be loved.’
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