One hundred cats were seized following several complaints at a residence on Davies Street in the Hull sector.
The owners of the cats say they are devastated by this intervention.
The three tenants living in the home were very attached to their cats, whom they called their babies.
According to them, they were well fed, clean and healthy.
However, the rules in Gatineau allow a maximum of 4 cats or dogs.
In the fall of 2022, after receiving complaints, the Service de police de la Ville de Gatineau (SPVG) informed the owner of the premises that he had to get rid of his cats.
Despite a given deadline, it was not done, and legal proceedings led to the seizure of a hundred cats in the last few days.
The operation was carried out in collaboration between the SPVG, the animal control and the SPCA.
“My heart is broken. I don’t have the taste. I’m bitter. I cry all the time. Honestly, it’s extremely difficult. It doesn’t make sense,” said one of the owners whose cats were seized.
According to the police, the owners did not show much cooperation.
“When you talk about a hundred cats, of course you can’t spend a whole day there to get hold of the cats. There is some execution of tasks to be done. […] There was no cooperation from the people who lived there,” said Andrée East, spokesman for the Gatineau Police Service.
The SPVG adds that two reports of violations of municipal regulations have been filed in court; one relates to the excessive number of cats, and the other relates to the salubrity of the premises.
