WALKER — The owner of a cat rescue group has turned herself in Thursday morning after Walker Police officers started investigating reports of screaming cats and a foul odor.
It was last week when neighboring businesses of the Waffles Way Home Cat Rescue, located at 9384 Florida Blvd. near Pendarvis Lane in Walker, started reaching out to UWK. Those concerned citizens told UWK they could hear screaming cats inside that business, smell a foul odor and even added there were multiple dead cats with maggots.
It’s why Walker Police officers started investigating those claims on Saturday, Sept. 12th and substantiating what those neighboring businesses had said. Walker PD said the cats did not have food or water and that the temperature inside the building was near 100 degrees.
Since then, Madison Colello, 29, turned herself into the Livingston Parish Prison Thursday morning. She is charged with 37 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty and an additional 17 counts of animal cruelty aggravated felony. The 17 felony counts come from officers finding 17 dead cats. Twenty of the cats survived.
“It’s one of the most horrible scenes I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” Walker PD’s Sgt. Detective Brant Villeneurve told UWK, who was one of the officers responding to the scene. “No food, no air conditioning, the cats slept in their cages. It was horrible. You could smell it from the parking lot and the cats were screaming.”
“The cats and kittens allegedly the responsibility of Ms. Colello obviously suffered a terrible fate. The number of animals affected by the cruelty is heartbreaking,” Walker Police Chief David Addison said. He told UWK, “We don’t play with animal cruelty, or cruelty to any children or any humans. We’re not going to just stand by and let you get away with it.”
Many of the cats have now been rescued by animal control, but Walker Police say some of the cats were dying as they were being rescued.
Her bond has been set at $74,000.
Download the Unfiltered with Kiran app from the Apple App Store and Google Play to stay updated on the latest news across the Capital area.
Support UWK and its mission to deliver The News You Deserve. Unfiltered. Become a monthly patron on Patreon today!
