DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida woman is facing charges in a case of animal neglect out of Deerfield Beach.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, more than 100 cats were rescued last week from unhealthy living conditions in a mobile home on Northeast 46th Street and Third Avenue.
The felines were taken to the Broward County Animal Care and Adoption Center in Dania Beach, where they are being looked after.
Emily Wood, the director of Broward County Animal Care, said the issue of hoarding animals is very common, and there is help available.
“If you’re worried about a neighbor or friend who might have something like 70 cats in one home, we’d love to have the opportunity to go out there and talk to them and see if we can help,” she said.
That’s the situation deputies responded to on Friday when they checked in on the cats that were left inside the mobile home while Nicole Dupras, the woman who was supposed to be caring for them, was in the hospital.
“We walked around in the back [of the mobile home] and the stench was horrendous, everyone was gagging,” said Diana Salcedo. “The police officer that got close, even outside, he had to– he literally almost puked.”
Salcedo, who owns a cat rescue, tipped off authorities.
“We heard a cat screeching, screaming. The stench was unbearable,” she said. “The cats are just being dumped in this hellhole; they were suffering.”
Salcedo said Dupras, who now faces animal deprivation charges because of the conditions inside the mobile home, did anything but rescue these animals.
“I never imagined the situation to be this bad. I was just doing a check, trying to help a friend of a friend with her situation, and I never imagined this was going to be this bad,” she said. “I had to do something, and I never expected this to be that bad. I thought it was just– 10 days she had been in the hospital. The cats are neglected, ‘Let me go see how we can help.’”
Cellphone video provided by Salcedo shows deputies turning away from the trailer when the smell clearly turned their stomachs.
“We all were fooled by her, thinking she’s an animal rescuer, she’s an animal lover, she’s doing this great thing,” said Salcedo, “but every week it was two more cats she would get, two more cats, and I’m thinking, ‘Where is she putting all those animals?'”
The cats are now getting much-needed care in Dania Beach at the Broward County Animal Care.
“We worked with the owner and she signed them over to us, which means that we can afford medical care and find placement from there for them, here forward,” said Wood.
Wood said Dupras signed 71 cats over to Broward County Animal Care, where they will remain until rescue groups or people willing to foster them step up.
“The adoption process is really easy. We practice open adoptions and chat with anybody about any animal, and there is no fee to adopt,” said Wood.
The mobile home has since been condemned as BSO investigates this case of animal cruelty.
Residents who live in the Deerfield community are angry and said this incident has happened before, where cats have been removed from the home, and years later, Dupras again gathers more cats, and then the cats have to be removed.
Now, they are hoping that BSO stays on top of the case and do not allow Dupras to continue to run the animal rescue, so the behavior doesn’t happen again.
For more information about transferring a cat to a rescue group, of if you know of anyone who needs assistance with their animals, go to Broward County Animal Care and Adoption’s website.
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