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The Bucks County SPCA rescued 33 cats and 3 dogs from ‘filthy conditions’ in a Bensalem hotel

The two men living in the hotel room surrendered the animals to the SPCA. They will face criminal charges for the neglect, according to SPCA staff.

This cat was one of 33 rescued, along with three dogs, from a hotel room in Bensalem Township earlier this week, according to the Bucks County SPCA.
This cat was one of 33 rescued, along with three dogs, from a hotel room in Bensalem Township earlier this week, according to the Bucks County SPCA.Read moreCourtesy Bucks County SPCA

Officials from the Bucks County SPCA removed 33 cats and three large dogs from a cramped, filthy hotel room in Bensalem Township this week.

Nikki Thompson, the SPCA’s chief humane society police officer, said Friday the agency was tipped off about the squalid conditions from a staff member at the hotel, which she declined to identify. The animals were discovered during a routine fire-safety inspection of the room, and the conditions they were living in shocked the staff member, Thompson said.

When an officer from the SPCA visited the hotel, her knocks at the room’s door went unanswered, according to Thompson, but the officer could hear the animals, and was hit by an overpowering smell of urine from behind the closed door.

The officer returned with a search warrant on Wednesday, and was able to speak with two men living in the room. Hotel staff told the SPCA that the two had been staying at the hotel for about six months, Thompson said.

Inside the room, SPCA staff found the animals “roaming around in filthy conditions,” with the room’s floor covered in pet waste, according to a statement from the agency.

The two men agreed to surrender the animals to SPCA officials, who took them to the agency’s shelter in Lahaska and examined them. Criminal charges against the men are pending, Thompson said. She declined to identify them ahead of their arraignments, which are to be held sometime next week before District Judge Joseph Falcone in Bensalem.

“We asked where all of the cats had come from, and we got no explanation,” Thompson said. “The answer we got was, ‘It just happened. You get one cat, and all of a sudden you get 33.’”

Most of the animals recovered from the hotel were in relatively good health, aside from some being overweight, Thompson said.

One of the cats has a serious uterine infection that is being treated by SPCA staff.

Thompson urged anyone struggling to care for animals to contact the agency at 844-772-2847.