SNOHOMISH — A Snohomish-area woman is under investigation for allegedly skipping town and leaving dozens of cats behind in a mobile home.
The case caught the attention of area TV new stations on Thursday, when an animal rescue group went onto the property and collected dozens of the animals.
Pasado’s Safe Haven, based near Sultan, issued a press release, saying they found three dead kittens and took 43 other cats from the home.
Pasado’s has accused Snohomish County animal control officers of inaction in the case. The welfare group described the conditions in the home as “absolute filth, in freezing temperatures” and covered in animal waste.
The county already was investigating the cat owner, said Vicki Lubrin, who oversees the animal control division. Officers visited the property on Monday. At that point, they did not have legal permission to enter the house, and they did not have enough probable cause to obtain a judge’s permission for a search warrant, she said.
At that point, any further action would have been illegal search and seizure, according to a prepared statement issued Friday by the county auditor’s office, which includes animal control.
Pasado’s engages in freelance animal cruelty investigations. It has been operating under a consent decree since 2010, when the state Attorney General’s office determined the group had misled donors and commingled funds. The group recently paid $70,000 to cover the costs of that investigation by state attorneys. Pasado’s has a history of linking its fundraising to news coverage created by high-profile animal cruelty cases.
In the new case, the owner of the cats had a mobile home in the 7100 block of 42nd Street SE, north of town. The landowner, a separate party, is out of state, Lubrin said.
The county got a tip on Dec. 30 that the cat owner had abandoned her animals.
It wasn’t the first complaint about the woman, Lubrin said. Animal control dealt with her in September 2014 and again in June and October after complaints of cat urine odors.
On Oct. 30, “the cats all appeared alert and healthy, food and water were present,” Lubrin said. The woman had 20 pet licenses for her cats. She indicated she was going to move to Montana, and on Nov. 6 released four cats to a local shelter. She also reported that she gave three more cats away around the same time, Lubrin said.
On Jan. 4, animal control officers talked to neighbors, who were going inside the home each day and leaving food and water. The county gave the neighbors food and water bowls for the cats, Lubrin said.
“There was no indication the animals were sick or injured or diseased from the people the animal control officers talked to who had made entry into the home,” she said.
The mobile home where the woman had lived is in the process of foreclosure, but not the property where it was located.
“It is unknown how Pasado’s gained lawful entry into the home or how they gained legal custody of the cats,” the auditor’s statement said Friday.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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