Court order clears way to trap 100 cats

MEADOW LAKE, N. M. (KRQE) - Valencia County animal control officers working outdoors have begun trapping and euthanizing the estimated 100 cats living at a Meadow Lake house deemed too filthy to enter without wearing full biohazard gear.

The officers have two weeks to remove the animals after a judge ordered the homeowner, Heide Berge, 48, to leave the home and the county so officers could do their job.

Director Eric Tanner of Valencia County Animal Control said Berge and the cats are living among unimaginable filth. There is cat feces on pretty much everything from the stove and furniture to the cabinets.

"There's accumulation of cat waste in certain places a foot high, and ammonia in house would be dangerous to breath," Tanner said. "Several weeks ago we had to go in full biohazard gear and breathing masks."

Officers have captured more than 25 cats so far and believe there are at least 60 to 70 more inside, he added

This is the second time county animal control has tried to remove the cats from this home. When the cats were first discovered in 2008 Berge pleaded guilty to 40 counts of animal cruelty and was ordered to perform community service, allow officers to remove the cats and not own any animals for a year.

However it didn't work. Tanner said when Berge found out the cats were being euthanized she refused to let them finish cleaning out the house.

The officers have now returned with the court order giving two weeks to remove the cats.

During that time Berge is on an electronic monitoring bracelet and is not allowed to return to her home. If she defies the order she could be sent to jail.

Tanner said unfortunately the cats removed from Berge's home will not be put up for adoption.

"When you get them in this environment the disease that goes through the colony, they don't stand a chance," he said. "There's no way we can reintroduce these to people or risk our population by exposing them to the healthy cats."

Tanner said all the cats are being euthanized the same day they are caught.

After the cats are removed it will be up to Berge to clean up the property.