And only one adoptable.

That is so sad.

Horrific; those poor kitties. And I'd guess the house had to be demolished.

I've got to say, that claw thing they're using to catch the cats doesn't look very ... humane.

I don't have audio at work; why was only one adoptable? Because they're virtually feral? Or because of disease?

Very sad.

I've been trying to trap a colony of feral cats living under our back deck and in the surrounding area for a couple of weeks now — Trap, Neuter, & Release is widely considered to be the best method for controlling cat populations.

Most people I talked to don't recommend sending cats to no-kill shelters because many of them are just death camps, or hoarding situations. Plus, it doesn't really reduce the feral population in the long run; they reproduce faster than you can catch and send them away.

anastasiav: cat tongs. Apparently they have a built-in limiter so the range of movement won't actually choke a cat.

They also tend to use snares and catch poles -- generally some type of hook or loop.

About as bad as animal control can get (22 years ago).

As to adoptability, they were just not socialized to be affectionate around humans, and were just the other side of feral. Heck, cats can grow up socialized and still be too mean for most families.

I couldn't watch the video as I have a sister who is an animal hoarder (I wrote a bit about it here.)

Sometimes you just want to grab people and give them a good shake - "what in the hell are you thinking?"

But no, you can't do that, so best to slip on some headphones and crank up some joyful noise and just tune it all out for a little while.

(weary sigh.)

There's another episode of Animal Cops Detroit where they pull 200-300 cats from a house.

It's gross. There were tides of cats.

I watch one or two episodes of Animal Cops almost every week. Some of the animal hoarding (and it's usually cats) is just horrifying and mind-blowing. One guy in Houston (I think) was living in his garage because the cats had literally overrun the house.

On non-preview:

why was only one adoptable? Because they're virtually feral? Or because of disease?

I didn't watch this whole clip, but usually it's because they're feral. Kittens can usually be saved because they're still able to be socialized.

Kadin2048, my town has begun using the TNR for control of feral cats, and it's working out wonderfully. The residential community I live in has several old ladies that feed the wild cats, and it was so hard to trap them; we always had kittens running around. But since we started the Trap, Neuter, and Release program, well, it's just much better for everyone (cats included) involved.

There were lots of kittens in that clip, but I assume only one can be saved because of infections and diseases. Cats kept by hoarders sometimes are infected with a respritory (I can't spell!!) disease; highly contagious, and hard to get rid of.

Yikes at that post metagnathous - that must have been horrible to deal with.

My grandfather lives in a subrural area and has pretty much singlehandedly started a TNR program with a couple of the vets in town. Sometimes it's borderline hording but he doesn't let the feral cats in his house or barn - they're fed and tracked in the yard only, save for any super-young kittens that can be socialized and eventually adopted out.

But I'm seriously concerned that one day it could get worse. I feel so awful for these hoarders because I know that the situation just spins out of control for them (of course I feel bad for the victims, as well).

Years ago, the GF's next door neighbor was a minor-league cat hoarder. All was well and good until one chill drizzly Sunday afternoon, when her roommate banged on the bedroom door and yelled "The Cat Lady's house is on fire!" (there was ~2 meters distance between the houses).

Sure enough, a cat had batted something flammable into the floor grate of the furnace, and it turned into a full-bore structure fire. The Cat Lady got out, but not all the cats did, alas. Sadness all around, but in the end, I suppose it moved her from an untenable living situation into something more appropriate.

Yikes at that post metagnathous - that must have been horrible to deal with.

Well, it was 'educational.' My problem with it was that it was not a good situation for the wee beasties any more than it was for any of the humans that had to be around it.

Knowing my sister as well as I do I believe I have some insight into what caused her to have such a big void to fill so desperately with pets. Despite that fact it ended up being a fairly heartbreaking thing to witness, and it was impossible to talk to her about it.

When you have more pets than you can properly care for something is wrong somewhere. Really, you want to have compassion for all concerned parties. I just had to walk away from it.