More than 140 Cats Removed from Lake Worth Woman’s Home

Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control officers removed at least 140 cats — most of them sick and some deceased — from a Lake Worth woman’s home Wednesday morning, in what investigators are identifying as one of the largest cases of animal hoarding the county has recently seen. Wearing protective garb and respirators, rescue crews placed those cats still alive in crates and loaded them onto vans before transporting them to the animal shelter. Photos by Bruce R. Bennett / Palm Beach Post.

Here: Four cats rest in a large carrier awaiting examination at Animal Care and Control.

Cats rescued from Diane Carle’s home arrive at Animal Care and Control via a “Neuter Commuter” van.

Lt. Michele Fox holds tiny kittens that were among the animals rescued from Diane Carle’s home.

One of the cats is examined and its health assessed. Dianne Sauve, director of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, said animals living in hoarding conditions usually suffer extensive diseases and injuries respiratory conditions like pneumonia and bronchitis, extreme dental infections, eye and ear injuries as a result of fights between cats living in confined environments for too long.

One of the more than 140 cats rescued from the home of Diane Carle is examined at the shelter.

Animal Care Specialist Catania Black and Animal Care and Control Officer Nicole King remove one of the cats from its cardboard carrier.

Cats taken from the home of Diane Carle await examination.

After examination, this cat was determined to be one of the few healthy enough to be”potentially adoptable.” “We have a lot of cats right now, because we are one of the few shelters that is ‘open admission,'” said Director Sauve. “That’s the tragedy of cat overpopulation. They reproduce at two to three times the rate that dogs do. The key is to stop the reproduction.”