Cats still being removed from house on Seventh Street in Auburn

Feral cats run around Aug. 15 at a home at 113 Seventh St. in Auburn. Fifty-six felines were found there after neighbors complained about unhealthy conditions. Cat Coalition of Western Maine in Harrison helped trap and place several felines, and an animal control officer rounded up seven more Tuesday. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

AUBURN — Police this week were continuing to remove feral cats from a home on Seventh Street where two people were charged with animal cruelty earlier this month.

By Tuesday afternoon, an animal control officer had taken another seven cats out of the home at 113 Seventh St. where 56 cats, one of them dead, had been captured Jan. 18.

Police said the efforts will continue until all the cats have been removed and placed in shelters.

Police and others had been investigating conditions at the home since August when neighbors began complaining about hordes of cats and unhealthy conditions at the home.

Charged with cruelty to animals on Jan. 18 were Jeffrey Bartos, 40, and Miranda Loggans, 35. Both are banned from possessing any animals pending a court hearing in March. Police said further charges are possible.

The home was declared uninhabitable by city police and safety officials.

For area shelters and animal rescue organizations, the developments in Auburn put further pressure on efforts to find shelter for stray and feral cats.

Also on Jan. 18, more than a dozen cats were brought to the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society in Lewiston after a similar situation was uncovered in Canton.

In that town, Animal Control Officer Rich Burton was rounding up “dozens and dozens” of cats near a construction trailer on River Road where two freezing pit bulls and several kittens were rescued last month.

In all, it was believed that as many as 50 cats were living in the Canton cat colony. The Lewiston shelter and the group Friends of Feral Felines were struggling to find space to house them.