Edie Alcorn, of Adopt A Rescued Kitty in Jacksonville, Florida. She has had groups come in on four separate occasions to remove many, many animals as many as 150 at one time from horrible conditions. Most recently I went in with others and removed 38, from a feces and filth covered house. All of the kitties were suffering from diarrhea, URI, skin infections and many were FIV and FelV positive. They were living in a home without air conditioning or windows that could open. We are still trying to find permanent places for those that are sick. It is with a heavy heart that I even type this as she started out with the best of intentions but clearly needs help for her mental illness. This is the 4th time cats have been removed from her home in the past 10 years. 1st it was 75, next time 100, then 150, and now 37.
30 cats removed from Neptune Beach home
Jul 09 2013
Animal rescuers began working to remove at least 30 cats from a home in Neptune Beach on Tuesday, one that's now being condemned by the city, deemed unsafe and unsanitary.
"Well, there's dirt and feces everywhere, there's cats in cages," said Neptune Police Chief David Sembach. "It's beyond words. The house is in such bad shape that when we got here Sunday, the fire department had to bring Hazmat gear for the officers to wear to actually go into the house to see what was in the house."
Police said the homeowner was being hospitalized in a psychiatric facility, but has since been released.
At this point, the city has nowhere to put the cats that are being rescued from the home, and attempts to take the cats to Jacksonville failed.
A mobile triage parked in front of the house to evaluate each cat Tuesday to see if they're sick and what kind of treatment they may need.
Rescuers are asking the public to help out by giving these cats a home.
"It takes your breath away," Sembach said. "All I want to do is take them out into the fresh air and the sunshine. That's number one. It's just not fit for anything."
Neptune Beach, Jacksonville officials divided between legalities of cat-hoarding case
July 10, 2013
A cat-hoarding case at a condemned Neptune Beach house, which led to the removal of 24 ill animals, produced a bit of a squabble between Neptune Beach officials and Jacksonville City Hall.
At issue was the ownership status of the cats, which are in quarantine at Neptune Beach’s small animal control facility until their legal fates are decided.
The case began Sunday when Neptune Beach police were requested to make a welfare check on the homeowner and discovered the squalid living conditions she and her cats were enduring.
Police Chief David Sembach, overwhelmed without the city’s vacationing animal control officer, said he asked for help from Jacksonville Animal Care and Protective Services on Monday.
He was told no.
“I begged them,” he said, citing an interlocal agreement between the two cities. “It was more than our city could handle.”
Monday the owner had not surrendered the animals. She did so Tuesday night, verbally and with witnesses, he said.
Neptune Beach Mayor Harriet Pruette was so frustrated that she emailed Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown. She said she had not received a response.
“We’ve got a big issue. We really need help here,” she said. “We need them to step up to the plate ... We are dealing with lives.”
Scott Trebatoski, who oversees Jacksonville’s animal care operation, said it’s not that simple.
The city cannot intervene without a written owner surrender or court order. A “strict set of rules” govern animal control agencies taking in owned animals because they are viewed in state law as property, regardless of any interlocal agreement, he said.
The only legal exception is if the animals are in “imminent danger of death,” which was not the case in Neptune Beach, he said.
As soon as documentation is provided, the shelter will accept the animals and provide them with the necessary medical care. Whether they can be fostered or adopted will depend on the individual cat, he said.
Meanwhile, the cats are being cared for by some of the same animal welfare volunteers who, under police supervision, removed them from the condemned house Tuesday night.
Leading the team is Mary Cleary, the Neptune Beach mobile veterinarian who volunteered to examine the cats. She said they had been fed but were malnourished and sick with upper respiratory infections and diarrhea, which is contagious to other cats but not humans. They cannot be adopted or fostered until they have been on antibiotics for seven to 10 days.
The brouhaha between municipalities was beyond frustrating, she said.
“This is really an ugly story,” she said. “These cats were in a situation ... where the house was full of feces. This was not just hoarding.”
Cleary spent much of Wednesday searching out other veterinarians to provide medical treatment and recovery space for the cats. To help, call her at (904) 246-5800.
Whether the cats’ owner, Edie Alcorn, will provide a written surrender remains to be seen. Sembach said she had been moved to a hotel.
She could not be reached for comment. Such cases can result in charges of animal cruelty, violating the city’s animal inoculation and registration regulations as well as housing codes. Sembach said charges were “possible” in this case but no decision would be made until the state Department of Children and Families had completed an evaluation of Alcorn’s health.
beth.cravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109
Rescued cats have nowhere to go
25 cats in shelter after being removed from condemned home
Author: Ashley Harding
Jul 12 2013
NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. - Dozens of cats found in a condemned Neptune Beach home remain at the city's Animal Care and Control with nowhere to go.
The city says it doesn't have enough room to keep the cats for a long period of time and has tried to reach out to the city of Jacksonville but has hit a roadblock. Now animal rescuers are desperate for homes for the cats.
At least 25 cats were being held at Neptune Beach Animal Care and Control. They're the same group taken from a condemned home on East Oceanwood Drive.
"They can't stay here forever," animal rescuer Courtney Conners said. "Ideally, these kitties need to be out in someone's home so they can get the one-on-one care that they need. Right now we just don't have the people on hand to give them the attention they deserve."
Investigators say the cats were found living in horrible conditions earlier this week.
Jacksonville Animal Care and Protective Services officials said it needs a written surrender from the owner of the cats to take them in, and that hasn't happened yet.
"It's not that simple. There has to be legal authority that the custody of those animals was properly gotten," Scott Trebatoski, division chief of ACPS, said in a phone interview.
In the meantime, the cats have each seen a vet and are now healthy. Rescuers continue working around the clock, hoping someone will step up and offer to foster the cats.
"If they can call us, get in touch with us, we will provide them with everything they need just for a short period of time," Trebatoski said. "Get them to take care of the guys, get them well so we can adopt them out."
Community rallies to help a house full of sick, suffering cats
July 22, 2013
When Beth Cummings and fellow cat rescue volunteer Courtney Jordan entered the home of Neptune Beach resident Edie Alcorn, they were struck by an overwhelming smell of cat urine, a wave of intense heat, and the appalling sight of sick and suffering felines amid unbelievable squalor.
Many cats were locked in cages in the house that had no air conditioning and shut-tight windows. Others roamed around rooms piled with trash and feces. One cat in a cage was dead and covered with flies, while another was lying on top of it and panting. Cummings and Jordan had known Alcorn for several years. They had fostered kittens for her cat rescue organization, and helped her find homes for cats at a Beaches Petco store. But they had never been to her house on Oceanwood Drive, and didn’t realize she was keeping so many cats herself, and in such cruel conditions.
When Neptune Beach police discovered the situation, Alcorn’s home was condemned on July 9, and she called Cummings and Jordan.
“She said, ‘I’ve been Baker-acted, and the house is a little dirty,’” Cummings said. “We went over to see what was going on, and told an officer we wanted to help pull cats out.”
“A little dirty was an understatement,” Jordan said. “But I just wanted the cats out.”
Cummings, Jordan and many other people from around the community helped rescue 35 cats from Alcorn’s house after she was sent to a psychiatric hospital and then released after 24 hours to go live in a hotel.
The Neptune Beach animal control officer, Dee Zagari, was on vacation that week, and the city was overwhelmed by the situation, Mayor Harriet Pruette said.
Cummings and Jordan put on hazmat masks to enter Alcorn’s house to get the cats, and were greatly assisted in their efforts by Beaches veterinarian Mary Cleary, owner of At Home Mobile Vet Clinic. Cleary used a triage system to sort all the cats on the spot, and oversaw their care after volunteers transported them to the Neptune Beach Animal Care and Control Facility under the Neptune Beach Department of Public Works.
Once the cats were placed in cages at the animal care and control facility, Cleary enlisted the help of many Beaches veterinarians to volunteer to help treat the cats, which were all sick. One was so ill it had to be euthanized.
Volunteers transported the remaining 34 cats to the veterinarian offices and then back to the animal care facility, where volunteers also cleaned the cages twice a day, and fed and administered medications.
Additional volunteers stepped up to become foster caregivers for the cats. By Tuesday afternoon, the last of them had been placed in private homes in foster care. Once they are well enough, they will become available for adoption.
Cleary told the Times-Union Monday that the cats were malnourished and sick with upper respiratory infections and diarrhea, which was not contagious to humans. Once they were moved to the clean, air-conditioned Neptune Beach facility, put on antibiotics and given fresh food and water, she said they quickly improved, getting “better every day.”
Cummings and Jordan “really stepped up to help, along with Dr. Cleary,” and many other volunteers, Pruette said. If it had not been for them, “I don’t know what the city of Neptune Beach would have done.”
Pruette said she is angry that the situation was allowed to occur at all, because she has heard that Alcorn had been cited years ago for keeping cats under similar circumstances — perhaps as many as four times. Pruette has approached Florida House Representative Janet Adkins to ask her to consider putting “teeth” in a law against hoarding that would apply to animals.
Pruette is also angry at the City of Jacksonville for not helping when police chief David Sembach called them for assistance because Zagari was on vacation, and there were so many cats that needed help. Sembach pleaded, citing an interlocal agreement between the two cities.
But Jacksonville Animal Care and Protective Services said they couldn’t get involved because they didn’t have a written surrender of the cats from their owner, or a court order.
“The city of Jacksonville was not there for us,” Pruette said. “We were dealing with lives. Even if the animal control person was here, she would have been overwhelmed.”
Pruette estimates the cost to care for the cats from volunteers providing food, supplies and care would have cost the city about $10,000.
Cleary happened to be at Pruette’s house, treating Pruette’s dog, when the call came in about the cats needing to be rescued, Pruette said. Cleary agreed to go assess the situation, and ended up staying there for hours.
Sandy Golding, Beaches Watch president and founder of Paws Park dog park in Jacksonville Beach, also went to help rescue the cats, and said the situation was one of “filth and disgust.”
“The stench was so bad, you could hardly breathe,” Golding said. “That can never happen again.”
Cummings agrees, but said she is grateful the cats will have “a second chance at life,” thanks to people “from all corners of our community” coming together to accomplish a common goal.
“I feel blessed to be part of such a wonderful community,” she said. “Full of people with immense compassion, leadership and hearts of gold.”
Community service, fines, no animals for Neptune Beach woman charged with animal cruelty
Feb 20, 2014
The Neptune Beach woman who was arrested last fall after she and 34 cats were found living in squalid conditions in her home has entered into a two-year pre-trial intervention program.
Under an agreement with prosecutors, Edith Alcorn, 70, will not be allowed to “own or possess” any animals and will be subject to unscheduled visits to make sure she is upholding that mandate.
She must perform 30 hours of community service that does not involve working with animals and pay $800 to the city’s Animal Control office, as well as court costs.
In addition, she must undergo a mental-health evaluation and for the next two years return to court every six months for a review.
County Judge Scott Mitchell approved the agreement Thursday during a brief hearing with Assistant State Attorney Cole Sullivan and Alcorn’s attorney, Carlton “Duke” Fagan.
In July, Neptune Beach police discovered her East Oceanwood Drive house full of cats, feces and trash and had a powerful stench.
Two days later, after Alcorn surrendered custody of 24 cats. Ten more were removed within the next few days, including one that was sick and had to be euthanized. After stays at Neptune Beach Animal Control, the rest of the cats were taken in by rescue groups and volunteers.
Alcorn, a longtime cat rescuer who once ran a licensed cat-rescue charity, was charged with cruelty to animals and confinement of animals without sufficient food, water or exercise. Each of the two charges carries possible penalties of up to a year in prison, a fine up to $5,000, or both. She pleaded not guilty in November.
Meanwhile, the retired federal worker owes Neptune Beach at least $8,700 in ongoing code-enforcement fines and costs because of the condition of her home.
For years neighbors complained to city officials about the house, the cats and the stench, but Alcorn repeatedly failed to take corrective action. Mayor Harriet Pruette said Thursday that the agreement was “a start” toward resolving what the community has long viewed as a case of hoarding.
“I’ve known Edie for over 20 years. Edie loves cats. We know Edie has a problem,” she said. “We want to make sure it doesn’t happen again ... For the first time in years, we’re getting help for the neighborhood, also for Edie, and the cats.”
After the hearing, Fagan said Alcorn “appreciates the patience and consideration of her neighbors” as her house undergoes odor remediation and renovation.
“She feels bad about that,” he said. “She is doing what she can to correct this.”
Fagan said she is not a hoarder, but a rescuer who became overwhelmed after her husband died in 1997, her two adult children relocated elsewhere and she was diagnosed with lung cancer in December 2012. She attempted to adopt out the rescued cats but was able to find homes for only a few.
“She had a lot of responsibility and no help from the community,” he said.
She is living in an extended-stay hotel and spending her retirement fund to fix her home.
Mary Cleary, a Neptune Beach mobile veterinarian, volunteered to examine the cats from Alcorn’s home and coordinated their relocation and followup care. Cleary said she was pleased with the agreement but planned to personally monitor Alcorn’s progress.
“Hopefully, Mrs. Alcorn will comply, this time,” she said.
Beth Reese Cravey: (904) 359-4109
