37 Cats Found In Alleged Hoarders Home
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Thirty-seven cats were rescued from a house of filth and authorities say the owner was taken to a mental health facility for evaluation.
Miami-Dade police were sent to a home in Southwest Miami-Dade Sunday about a foul smell and a possible dead body.
According to the police report, when officers arrived, they found "garbage knee deep throughout the residence." There was also "swarms of roaches crawling on the walls along with multiple cats."
"Think of a landfill, a dump. That's what it looks like in there. There's bottles, food, containers full of urine. Human urine," said Luis Salgado from Miami-Dade Animal Services.
Instead of a dead body, they discovered a live owner, identified as Ruben Rabinsky, 59, who stepped out of the house "naked" to talk with the officers.
"It's really bad in there. The smell is horrendous. You can smell it out here on the sidewalk. It's pretty bad in there. It's unfit for human habitat. Much less for animals," said Salgado.
Rabinsky was involuntarily committed for a 72-hour mental health evaluation.
Miami-Dade Animal Control was called and rounded up 3 dozen cats. They returned Monday to set traps for more animals.
"Typically, a hoarder situation like this is typically like this. They not only hoard animals, they hoard everything you can think of. Paper, trash. It's just a bad situation," said Salgado
