KALAMAZOO, Mich, (WWJ) - Animal control officials in Kalamazoo are investigating the discovery of 33 cats stuffed into three crates.
Kalamazoo County Animal Services Director Steve Lawrence says the felines were found Tuesday in a pile of belongings left outside a house during an eviction.
"A homeless man was wandering by and saw the stuff and started to kind of go through the stuff and pulled back a blanket and found a cage with appeared to be 15, turned out to be 17 cats," Lawrence told WWJ Newsradio 950. "And my officer, when he arrived, that's when they found another crate with ten cats, and then another smaller crate with four cats in it.."
The man alerted a nearby police officer.
"As the officer started to try to get them out of the crates, his comment was it was a lot like untangling a ball of Christmas lights," Lawrence said. "I mean, there were all tangled in with each other...It was just one giant ball."
Lawrence described seeing a picture texted to him from the scene by an animal services worker.
"I first thought we came upon a cage where someone had thrown a bunch of dead cats into it," he said. "But as I zoomed into the picture I saw all of the little eyes looking out of that crate; I couldn't believe that someone had just put that many cats...just literally piled those cats into that crate."
Lawrence said 28 of the cats appear to be of Russian Blue heritage, and three are black.
He said the cats showed no signs of aggression, were healthy, playful, and appeared to be well socialized and cared for; although they are still scared from their experience.
The animals are now available for adoption.
Interested in adopting? Visit this this link.