20 cats collected from home euthanized
Dona Ana Sheriff’s deputies will file charges against a Chaparral man who allegedly had more than 50 diseased cats living in his home.
Charles Gonnell, 62, told ABC-7 the allegations of animal cruelty against him are untrue.
“I never thought there was anything wrong with it,” Gonnell said. “They just told me that caring for stray animals is some sort of hideous crime.”
Gonnell said the cats sheriff’s investigators collected last week were not all his. He said he had five cats he considered his pets and the rest were strays he fed and cared for.
“I was helping them. I don’t know if there (were) 50 or 500,” Gonnell said. “I was just concerned with helping them out. My wife, when she came home from work, the first thing she would do is feed them or work on their eyes.”
Some of the kittens collected had their eyes closed with mucus from various infections.
A sheriff’s spokeswoman said 20 of the 52 cats had to be euthanized because they were in pain and suffering from respiratory and skin diseases.
“They were not suffering. We used to clean their eyes everyday, feed them everyday. They would play,” Gonnell said.
Gonnell said he and his wife asked their veterinarian how to treat the cats and were using her advice to care for them.
“They asked me ‘why would you take care of them?'” Gonnell said. “Well, (St. Francis) tells us to take care of them.”
Gonnell has not been formally charged but sheriff’s investigators said he will likely face felony animal cruelty charges and codes violations.
Sheriff’s investigators said they’re treating the remaining cats with painkillers and antibiotics but a few more cats will probably have to be euthanized.
