An investigation by an organization dedicated to the protection of animals has led to a grisly discovery in a home near the southern French seaside city of Cannes. The carcasses of no fewer than 117 cats were found in a freezer and in the garden. The house itself also contained 38 live animals. They appeared to be neglected and ill.
It was the ‘Association Enquêteurs Protection Animale’ (AEPA) that sounded the alarm in La-Roquette-sur-Siagne, a town of about 5,000 people 10 kilometers from the center of Cannes.
“A neighbor contacted us because there was a nauseating smell of ammonia and dirt coming from the house,” chairman Nathalie Bassot told the regional network ‘France Bleu’. “We kept an eye on the house day and night and noticed that there were some badly damaged cats walking outside.”
Freezer
Animal control raided the house yesterday and found 117 cat bodies: 67 were in a freezer and 50 were buried outside in the garden. AEPA speaks of “a house of horrors”. The 38 living cats included 26 adults and 12 kittens. One of the animals was pregnant.
It turned out that there had been problems with the owner before. “This house is well known,” said Bassot. “Interventions have already taken place in 2019 and 2021. In 2019, animal protection seized 58 sick cats.”
The owner of the house – a man in his sixties – has been taken into custody by the police and will have to appear in court. The Grasse public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation. According to the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture, this is a mentally vulnerable man.
The public broadcaster ‘France 3’ reports that the man kept a register and called the cats his “loves”. He would also not have understood what was wrong and said that he had given the animals “eternal life”.
Adoption
The ‘Association Enquêteurs Protection Animale’ (AEPA) is now raising money online to care for and sterilize the surviving cats with a view to adoption.
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