The Disaster Animal Response Team of Nova Scotia says more than 50 cats have been removed from an apartment in Halifax.
The team was contacted by the tenant’s landlord on Friday.
With the tenant’s co-operation, the team removed at least 51 adult cats and kittens from the home.
There were no cases of neglect or cruelty, and there are no rules about the number of cats allowed in a home, but spokeswoman Catherine Stevens says it was an issue between the woman and her landlord.
“You have that many living in a small place and they tend to start taking over the environment that they’re in,” says Stevens. “They can run amok. They can go pretty much wherever they want to.”
She also says a large number of pets can cause problems during an emergency situation.
“We were concerned about this because from an emergency preparedness viewpoint, if we were to do the evacuation of a building, it’s hard to plan for how many animals.”
The organization won’t name the owner of the cats or the location of the apartment, but they do say the woman will be able to stay in the apartment and is allowed to keep one cat.
“This is really our first foray into a hoarding situation and we’ve been working with the landlord and the tenant for some time to get this resolved,” says the team’s director, Marcel Marcotte.
Stevens says all the cats were in good health and a temporary shelter has been set up where the animals will be cared for over the next few days.
The cats will also be spayed and neutered before going to the SPCA for adoption.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw and The Canadian Press
