A cat-loving pensioner was found with 117 dead cats stored in his freezer.
The 66-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested inside a “house of horrors” in the French Mediterranean town of La Roquette-sur-Siagne, near Cannes.
“He didn’t think he did anything wrong except put the cats to sleep,” a source in the investigation said Thursday.
“He told the gendarmes that he loved his cats and wanted to give them eternal life.”
Officers working for AEPA, the French animal protection group, said 38 other cats, including 12 kittens and a pregnant adult, were also found alive around the man’s home.
In the photo, some of the 38 cats that were found alive. They lived in filth and misery in a ‘house of horrors’
Some of the cats found include 12 kittens and a pregnant adult who were rescued.
Some showed signs of typhus, a disease caused by bacteria transmitted by fleas and lice, while others had various wounds and were malnourished.
“They had been living in this man’s filthy house for years and they were all in very bad shape,” the source said.
“It was a real house of horror: there were other cats buried in the garden.”
The man was arrested on Tuesday and questioned overnight into Wednesday, before being released subject to court action.
The detained pensioner did not think he had done anything wrong, except putting the cats to sleep
“He is in a fragile psychological state and will be evaluated further,” the source said.
The AEPA had been investigating the house since December, gathering information until it felt it had enough to inform the police and search the land.
The group was already aware of the home, following previous complaints of animal cruelty in 2021 and 2019, when 58 cats were recovered.
An AEPA spokesman said: “We investigated, smelled strong odors and heard a lot of meowing, so we called the police who came to observe.” After two months, the gendarmes obtained a search warrant.