City scrambles to catch, care for abandoned cats

HOUSTON — City officials and animal rescue volunteers are at a home in the King Arthur Drive area today trying to corral at least two dozen cats left behind when a homeowner was evicted.

Houston Fire Chief Tom Hood spoke early Monday afternoon from a doctor’s office where he’d gone to get penicillin and tetanus shots on a scratch on his hand that appeared to be growing infected.

“Myself and six of my officers or helpers or whatever you want to call them got scratched,” he said.

He said 17 of the animals had been corralled and would be housed at the city’s animal shelter. More are still in the woods around the home on Leprechaun Drive, about four miles from the Parks Highway in the neighborhoods surrounding King Arthur Drive. Rescue groups were showing up with kitty litter and cages. He said any help he can get is more than welcome.

“We’re totally unprepared for this right now but we’re doing the best we can,” Hood said.

He said it’s tough work corralling the animals, which tend to disperse when people arrive and come back at night. In addition to the live cats, he said, five more have been spotted and there are likely more out there. Workers also disposed of four or five dead cats that were found on the property. Most, he said, appeared to have been dead for a long time.

The home, Hood said, has been on the city’s radar for some time, both for the animals and for the trash in the yard.

“It’s a classic case of animal hoarding,” Hood said. “If the troopers don’t press charges on them I’m going to be surprised.”