Officials remove 17 feral cats from Babylon home

Officials Tuesday removed 17 wild, diseased and flea-infested cats from a Babylon house that had been condemned a few days earlier.

Chris Elton, director of the Town of Babylon animal shelter, said both the interior of the Mitchell Avenue house and the cats were covered in fleas and cat feces.

He said a neighbor recently approached the animal shelter about the situation and that authorities responded by removing the cats and taking them to the town animal shelter.

"My priority is the safety of the cats," he said.

Joanne Stiglianese, 50, who lives across the street from the condemned home, said she and other neighbors have been trying to get help.

"It was a nightmare," Stiglianese said. "I've been calling [authorities] for the past eight months. The cats just kept interbreeding. We were ready to sell our house. The cats destroyed everything."

Stiglianese said the cats ran wild, digging up lawns, urinating on plants and on decks, and often lining the streets, lapping water out of rain puddles. "Cats shouldn't have to live like this," she said. "I'm just happy it's going to be over."

Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said his organization had received calls about feral cats as long ago as September 2009, but was unable to take action because it deals with animal abuse and neglect. Gross said they initially considered the problem to be overpopulation and could not determine if the cats were being abused.

Tuesday, SPCA and Babylon Town officials removed the 17 cats, he said, and an investigation is under way into the conditions and treatment of the animals.

Babylon officials said the town first received a call about the situation through its 311 line on July 13. On July 26, Elton got a call at the animal shelter about feral cats at the house, a town official said. Elton then visited the site and contacted the town ordinance department and the owner of the property. The house was condemned on July 27.

According to a town official, the owner of the home is Barbara Eppig, and her son William Eppig is her trustee, but neither lives there.

With Denise Bonilla