Accused cat hoarders arrested in Montana
SANDPOINT - A former Bonner County couple accused of hoarding cats on their property in Blanchard in 2006 has been arrested in northwestern Montana on charges of felony cruelty to animals.
Edwin and Cheryl Criswell were arrested Friday after animal rescue workers took more than 100 malnourished and ill cats from two camp trailers in Marion, Missoula television station KECI reported.
Flathead County Sheriff's officials investigated a report of animal cruelty northwest of Kalispell last month, according court documents. An animal control officer noted the cats were living in squalid conditions with very little food.
The Criswells relinquished control of the campers and they were taken to the Flathead Spay & Neuter Task Force Clinic, a probable cause affidavit indicated.
The trailers were coated in feces and officers had to use self-contained breathing apparatuses in order to enter them. A veterinarian examined 97 cats and found only nine to be in good health. The remaining 88 had numerous medical problems.
The Flathead County court documents do not specify the ailments, although the Daily Inter Lake reported on Thursday that the cats' conditions ranged from dehydration to respiratory infections.
The couple's arrest comes 13 months after they attracted unwanted attention in Boundary County for having 40-50 cats.
More than 400 ill cats were seized from the Criswells in Bonner County in 2006, making it the largest such seizure in Idaho at the time, according to the Humane Society of the United States.
The Criswells were operating a no-kill animal sanctuary called Voice of the Animals' Camelot on Stone Road. The cats were living in a half-dozen dilapidated trailers and veterinary assessments found that the cats suffered from a variety of ailments - emaciation, ear mites, fleas, ringworm, diarrhea, periodontal stomatitis, conjunctivitis and abscesses. A number of the cats also had urine and feces scalding.
The Criswells were charged with animal cruelty and entered Alford pleas to the misdemeanor charges. Under such pleas, the couple denied wrongdoing, but conceded they could be convicted if the matter were tried.
In an agreement with the prosecution, the couple was given suspended jail sentences and prohibited from having more than 20 domesticated animals in their care while on probation.
Flathead Spay & Neuter Task Force Executive Director Mimi Beadles suspected the animals the couple was allowed to keep following their troubles in Idaho were likely used to create the cat population seized last month.
"These people didn't rescue these cats," she told the Daily Inter Lake. "They made them."