The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), accompanied by a veterinarian and the city police, searched a 3BHK apartment in the Hadapsar area following a complaint and found over 300 cats kept in unhygienic conditions last week. The inquiry revealed that the cats were not vaccinated or sterilised, nor did the owners maintain any records in this connection. Some of the cats were pregnant, officers informed.
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According to the police, a resident had filed complaints with the PMC against Rinku Bharadwaj and her sister Ritu Bharadwaj, the owners of flat no. C-901 at Marvel Bounty Cooperative Housing Society. However, no offence has been registered yet against the apartment owners.
PMC Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Sarika Phunde said, "I, along with my team, officials of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and Police Sub-Inspector Supriya Kelewad and Havaldar Sonali Karande from the Hadapsar Police Station searched the 3BHK apartment on Thursday, February 13. During the search, cats and kittens were found in different rooms in the apartment. We have sent a notice to the owners, who seem to be cat lovers. They said they would shift the cats and sought time for this purpose. Usually, in such cases, we seize the cats."
The residents of the society claimed that it has become a trend to harass people in the name of animal lovers. Sumit Paul, a resident, said, "It has become a new normal to just make people suffer because of your fancy outlook towards life and everything. This kind of behaviour is insane, and sorry, it is not animal love. I'm not animal-friendly, but I don't hate animals, and these people should understand how people are affected by such insane behaviour."
Meanwhile, PETA India labelled this act as animal hoarding. In a statement, it said, "A flat is no place to keep hundreds of cats. PETA India stands with the authorities on this and emphasises the urgent need to sterilise and vaccinate all the cats in this family's possession. The animals must also be removed from their possession to ensure proper care through adoptions and the help of local NGOs."
"It is extremely important that animal hoarders are not mistaken for responsible animal shelters. Animal hoarders are persons whose unhealthy mental conditions or compulsion to hoard huge numbers of animals can cause suffering and criminal behaviour with horrific consequences for animals. Hoarders gather a huge number of animals and fail to provide for their most basic physical and social needs, including food, water, shelter, veterinary care and sanitary living conditions. Proper intervention is essential to prevent a relapse of hoarders' behaviour, including a ban on contact with animals as much as possible and psychiatric counselling," it added.
