Pinal County Animal Care finds 59 cats at Queen Valley home

QUEEN VALLEY, Ariz. - Pinal County Animal Care and Control officers and Sheriff's deputies served a search warrant on a home in Queen Valley Friday and removed 59 cats and one dog from the residence.

"What was very shocking is that we found nine carcasses of deceased cats inside the home," Animal Care and Control Director Kaye Dickson said. "We were not expecting to see that."

A male resident was arrested by sheriff's deputies after making threats to law enforcement and animal control officers.

"We exhausted all means of resolving the situation immediately with the residents," Dickson said. "We were hoping they would surrender the animals voluntarily, but we ended up having to get a judge to serve a search warrant."

Animal Care and Control officers said the inside of the residence was filled with feces and smelled strongly of cat urine. A trailer located on the property was also filled with fecal matter and in poor condition.

The animals will be kept at Animal Care and Control's shelter on Eleven Mile Corner Road where they will be examined by a veterinarian. Many of the cats are believed to be in poor physical condition with disease or illness likely in some.

This case comes in the same week as Animal Care and Control officers are investigating another hoarding case. In that instance of hoarding, 93 dogs were removed from a double wide trailer in the Hidden Valley area.

Queen Valley is located five miles north of Highway 60, west of the Town of Superior.