Complaint: Crystal Woman Hoarded 124 Cats At Her Home

A Crystal woman is accused of hoarding 124 cats at her home. Police started investigating after the discovery of recurring bags of feces illegally dumped along a road in Plymouth.

Shawna Duffy, 47, is charged with 10 felony counts of animal mistreatment.

According to charges filed, Plymouth police received a report of illegal dumping along Bass Lake Road in Plymouth. Police set up a camera and license plate reader that identified a vehicle belonging to the woman’s boyfriend.

Police visited the boyfriend’s Plymouth residence, who admitted to the dumping over the course of two months. He stated the bags came from his girlfriend’s house in Crystal.

During a visit to the Crystal home, officers heard the sound of numerous animals coming from inside the home and smelled “a very strong odor of cat feces/urine that he could smell about 15-10 feet from the closed front door of the residence.” Officers were unable to make contact with anyone inside.

A search warrant executed on Feb. 27 located Duffy inside the home and led to the recovery of 96 cats.

“One cat skull was also recovered and three of the cats were kittens,” the complaint noted.

Animal control officers had to make four additional visits to the home, which resulted in the capture of an additional cats. City inspectors determined the home was unfit for habitation.

“Every surface of the inside floors, walls and any furniture were coated with mud-like substances determined to be dried cat feces and vomit,” the complaint continued. “There were several cat litter boxes, however all of them appeared to be full of feces. There were holes in walls that some cats had gone into. Cats were also inside furnace vents. Many cats were found in a crawl space under the main floor, many of them in inaccessible spaces.”

The complaint stated all of the cats were malnourished and had upper respiratory infections. Nine of the cats were so sick, they had to be put down, investigators said.

Kitten rescued from Crystal home/photo courtesy Animal Humane Society

‘Cats are really good breeders’

The Animal Humane Society took in the rescued cats, most of which have been treated back to good health and adopted out.

“Bringing them in shelter and giving them time and space to heal usually gets them through a lot of medical issues they’re dealing with,” said Dr. Graham Brayshaw, director of animal services at the Animal Humane Society.

Brayshaw says this type of case is not something they usually see, but it’s not uncommon, stating they do see several large cat cases a year.

“Cats are really good breeders. They do a very good job of making a lot of kittens, and if you have even a few cats in your house that aren’t sterilized, you can have a few dozen pretty quickly. And a few dozen becomes a hundred just as quickly,” he said.

The Animal Humane Society says there has been an uptick in hoarding cases, but not necessarily because the problem is getting worse.

“It’s that people are reporting. People are speaking out when they see this kind of situation,” said Brayshaw.

Brayshaw said the average length of stay for an adult cat at its facility is about nine days. He encourages people to contact the Animal Humane Society if they’re aware of an animal hoarding situation.

“The best thing you can do is report it to someone,” Brayshaw said. “The Animal Humane Society, we’re here for that.”

Brayshaw said charging situations aren’t necessarily meant to be punitive, but rather so people living in a hoarding situation can get help.

“It actually mandates follow-up and makes sure that they get access to the resources they need so this doesn’t happen again,” he said.

The Animal Humane Society’s pet helpline is 952-435-7738.

Crystal | Plymouth