New Haven Independent

Animal control officers launched a rescue Tuesday, after neighbors got wind of an overwhelming stench when a window of the house, at 57 Girard Ave., was thrown open. Alderwoman Arlene DePino investigated and called officials. They rescued 41 felines from the house at 57 Girard Ave. Tuesday, then came back for the rest Wednesday.

Neighbors on a nearby lawn said the smell was dying down Wednesday. But a peek in window still showed knee-high garbage piles all over the floor. Flies buzzed around windows. A back porch was scattered with cat feces.

Tacked to the front door read a sign: “Unfit for Occupancy.” Livable Cities Initiatives inspectors put it there Tuesday, condemning the house and removing the woman who had lived there alone. Police said the woman, in her 50s, was under observation for psychological evaluation at St. Raphael’s Hospital Wednesday.

This next door neighbor (pictured at left), who declined to give his name, said he had no idea the woman had more than four cats. He watched in awe as animal control officers, wearing masks, pulled cat after cat out of the house. Over the many years they lived next door to each other (12 years, he said), he never knew what was inside. “If I knew that I woulda flipped out a long time ago.”

He shook his head, still “appalled” and “bothered” by the living conditions of both the cats and the woman — rescuers hauled out a foul-smelling mattress on which she appears to have slept. Just the other day, he’d made small talk with the woman while he was fixing his roof. “She looked normal. I would never have known she lived in this filth.”

Animal shelter staff Wednesday said the felines did not appear to have been treated poorly. The influx of cats has quadrupled their normal load, however. Donations of newspapers, canned cat food, kitty formula or portable fans (there’s no A/C) are welcome at the shelter at 81 Fournier St., New Haven. Telephone: 946-8110.