The remaining 71 cats were removed from a Chester, NJ home yesterday, where the NJSPCA originally found 93 cats living in squalid conditions—rooms filled with garbage and feces. The Star-Ledger reports that Morris County Emergency Management Coordinator Rick Loock praised the homeowner, Wanda Oughton, for being helpful, "These are healthy cats, you could even say fat cats. They did not seem to be suffering from any abuse. The lady (Oughton) seemed to be feeding them well. And I want to emphasize that she was unbelievably cooperative today, helping us catch the cats and put them in travel carriers."The cats are being housed in a temporary shelter and will soon be examined; it's hoped they can be adopted out to new homes (the NJSPCA website will have photos of adoptable cats). Oughton faces 186 counts of animal cruelty in both criminal and civil summonses.
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