Schenectady home condemned, man hospitalized and cats rescued

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. ( NEWS10 ) — Schenectady Police announced that numerous cats were rescued from a Campbell Avenue home following a welfare check on July 18. Care of the animals has been transferred to the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society (MHHS).

A man was taken to the hospital, dozens of cats needed to be rescued and a home in Schenectady is now condemned. NEWS10 has the latest on the continuing efforts to remove more cats from the home.

It all started with a call to law enforcement to check on the well-being of a man who lived alone in his Campbell Street home.

“We did locate an elderly resident who did need some assistance medically. While officers were there, they noticed there was a scene. Many, many animals. Many cats that were on the scene, about 60 of them,” said Lieutenant Macherone. He went on to say several agencies stepped up to help capture the cats, “We asked for the assistance of the SPCA as well as Mohawk Hudson and we had our Animal Control Officers up there, codes office went up there as well.”

He says the condition they found inside was not healthy and caused concern for those on scene. “The officers don’t have a choice where they go into or where they’re not going into. But one of the concerns that came up was the amount of ammonia levels.”

Mohawk Hudson Humane Society says they’ve caught 28 cats so far but believe more than 30 are still inside the home.

“Any huge number of non-humans living in a household, who don’t subscribe to human hygiene can bring in a lot of potential problems. Specifically, illness.” Doctor Jim Saperstone says there are many diseases to worry about for people close to this situation. “Toxoplasmosis, giardia, salmonella and fleas.”

The officials at Mohawk Hudson Humane and the police department in Schenectady say that if not for the concerns voiced by this man’s neighbors’ this situation could have been much worse. “Keep an eye on your neighbors I mean certainly if somebody’s elderly and you notice something like somebody has hasn’t come out recently any recent changes in patterns and something like that being a good neighbor is always good. My understanding is that’s how we were alerted to this,” said Macherone.

Maria Jones, who lives across the street says she moved into the neighborhood in 2006 and did not notice a problem at that time. She says it wasn’t until covid that she saw numerous cats playing in the window.

The man returned to his home Friday even after the codes department condemned the property. While we were there, he was removed and taken away by the sheriff’s department. They tell me there are no charges pending at this time. “It’s under investigation and certainly look at what caused this but that hasn’t come out yet,” said Lt. Macherone.

MHHS says they will continue trapping efforts and monitor the situation in the coming days. Officials say the animals will be available for adoption once they have recovered. Stay with NEWS10 as this story continues to develop.

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