- Michigan USA -
On November 9, 2021, the Saginaw County Animal Care & Control Center received a call from a concerned citizen who said that many cats appeared to have been abandoned in a house on Centennial Drive and indicated that they had not seen the resident in two to three weeks.
Director Bonnie Kanicki said that the officers who went to the home “could see through the windows and the cats were scratching at the windows. The cats would follow the officers as they were walking around, going window to window. They were scratching in a gesture of appearing to want to get out.”
Officers counted 12 cats.
A few days later, Animal Control and Saginaw Township police officers executed a search warrant on the house which was in deplorable condition.
Officers went into each room looking for cats. Director Kanicki said: “There were feces all over the floor in every room.”
“Every room in this house was just full of trash, feces, and urine.”
Animal Control Officer Bailey Gosen, who was on the scene, said that “A lot of the cats were emaciated and dehydrated.”
There was no food or water for them.
Officer Gosen said: “When we opened the door to the house, an orange cat ran out and jumped in the front seat of the Animal Control truck. Those cats wanted out real[ly] bad.”
Animal Control removed 12 cats and they sadly found the bodies of three more.
Officer Gosen told WNEM that one dead cat was found in the closet squished between clothes and the others were just lying on the living room floor.
On December 6, 2021, Animal Control officers questioned the former resident of the home, identified as 34-years-old JENNIFER ANN BARRON (pictured).
As reported by MLIVE, Director Kanicki said that BARRON “claimed they were strays and that somebody had left the window open and they had gathered in her home.”
Director Kanicki told WNEM: “She contested the story that she had not been at the home. She was indicating she had been there frequently, taking care of the animals. But the witnesses provided statements that that just wasn’t reality with what they had witnessed.”
A few days after the interview with Animal Control, BARRON told officers she found another cat among the debris in the house. BARRON surrendered that furbaby bringing the total of living cats to 13.
At first, BARRON surrendered ownership rights to all but three of the cats.
On March 3, 2022, authorities issued a warrant for her arrest and she was taken into custody on April 1, 2022. At that point, BARRON surrendered her rights to the last 3 cats.
The 13 live cats received medical care and except four, all the others have found their furever home. The four furbabies who are still waiting to be adopted are: an orange named Lux, a gray named Pancake, a black-and-white named Mini-Moo, and a tiger-striped one named Pooka, all males (pictured). Pooka needs to remain with Animal Control a while longer due to ongoing veterinary treatment, but if you are interested in giving Lux, Pancake, and Mini-Moo a loving home, please call the shelter at (989) - 797 - 4500. Thank you!
As for BARRON, on Monday, April 4, 2022, she was arraigned in Saginaw County District Court on one count of cruelty to 10 or more animals.
Online records show she was released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond, a condition of which is that she does not possess any animals.
Her case is set for a hearing on April 11, 2022, at 11:30 a.m.
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