Watchdog Thailand found 63 dead cats, one dead dog, and 80 emaciated but still alive animals inside a house in Bangkok on Friday. Many of the animal carcasses had been stuffed into a freezer. The owner of the house – who tried to flee but crashed her car – had collected donations via Facebook for all the animals she had “saved.”
The foundation coordinated with officers from Khan Na Yao Police Station and the Department of Livestock to inspect the house after receiving concerns from locals that animals were being neglected at the property.
The team said the stench when they entered the property was rancid. The house was brimming with dead cat carcasses and animal faeces. The team found 80 neglected, hungry cats and dogs. Some were locked in cages and others weren’t.
The animals that were still alive had been eating the cat carcasses out of starvation, said the foundation. Some of the animals must have been dead for over a year, they said.
The team said that the most shocking discovery was finding several cat carcasses stuffed into the freezer in black bin bags. Every room in the house was covered in animal carcasses, insects, and dirt.
Police said the owner of the house, a Thai woman around 40 years old, was inside when they entered the property. She held her hands up and begged not to be prosecuted. Police asked for her cooperation but she ran outside, got into her car, slit open her wrists, drove away, crashed into a wall, and knocked herself unconscious. Police called an ambulance and she was taken to the hospital.
Authorities rescued 80 animals, mostly cats and a few dogs, from the dirty property and took them for treatment at an animal hospital. All 80 animals will be taken to Chiang Mai to be cared for by the Elephant and Environment Conservation Foundation.
Watchdog Thailand has already filed a case against the woman at Khan Na Yao Police Station for animal cruelty causing death. Watchdog Thailand said she exploited the animals by starting a Facebook page to collect donations for them as if she was saving them.
In March, Watchdog Thailand saved more than 20 cats locked in a house in Samut Prakan province. Five cats were found dead.