Cat breeder gets reprieve
Cindy Leise | The Chronicle-Telegram
SHEFFIELD LAKE — The city is giving Victoria Wilson a little time to sell or give away some of her cats before they cite her again for exceeding the four-cat limit in a residential area.
A police officer last Friday gave the first citation to Wilson that states she is violating a law restricting Sheffield Lake residents to owning no more than four cats in a residential area. She’s paid that bill — a $150 fine that ended up being $201 with court costs tacked on, and was facing it daily if she didn’t get rid of them.
But police Capt. Anthony Campo said that Law Director David Graves told police to refrain from citing Wilson again until they receive further instructions.
Wilson, 77, said Thursday that she has sold some of her 85 or so cats and kittens, but she still has about 70. She breeds Persians, Himalayans, Siamese and Bengals, and she said she is doing her best to find them good homes.
“My heart is broken,” she said. “That was a real joy, bringing beautiful things into the world.”
Some kittens are pre-sold, but are too young to leave their mothers at the home at 3591 Lake Road, she said.
If she had to pay the fine every day, Wilson has said she would have to fire the health care workers who care for her and her husband, Samuel, 80, who has Alzheimer’s disease, because she couldn’t afford them.
On Friday, Wilson said she was considering moving, but she said this week that might be too much work at her age.
Wilson said she is a little depressed, but Love-A-Stray is assisting her and took four cats to be neutered and spayed at a reduced cost.
The most important thing is to find the cats good homes, she said. She said she sold a flame-point Siamese to a man who wept when he saw the cat because it looked just like a cat he lost to illness.
“He said, ‘God must have sent me this way,’ ” Wilson said. Anyone interested in the cats may call her at (440) 949-7594.
Adult Protective Services contacted the city after a caseworker visited the Wilson home.
Kathy Griffin, an agency spokeswoman, said she could not comment on a specific case, but she said living in a home with so many cats would not be a healthy situation.
Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Cindy Leise | The Chronicle-Telegram May 9th, 2008 in Local and State. Popularity: 3% |
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Comments
Comment from
karabird
May 9, 2008, 8:30 am
This situation makes me so upset. I was a homeowner in Sheffield Lake for about 4 years. This seems pretty typical of the mentality in that city. You have homeowners with tons of junk cluttering there yards and living like they live in Appalacia but yet instead of going after them to clean up you go after a poor woman who from what I have seen and heard takes good care of these cats. Come on Sheffield Lake get with the program or you are always going to be exactly what you are known as today.
Comment from
Lucky Lady
May 9, 2008, 10:26 am
I am in total agreement with karabird. Leave these people alone!
Comment from
sunfirelady2000
May 10, 2008, 9:10 am
Have any of you been in this home…I HAVE…its a total mess and the smell will knock you out before you even get inside the door…the health care aids take more care of the cats then they do of her and her husband…the cats are her only concern, where it should be herself as well as her husband..CATS COME FIRST..I am glad they are making her get rid of them..no one needs that many cats unless they have the proper faciality to keep them and not let them over run the home, as hers does. As for her sellin the cats and kittens, why should some one pay $150.00 for a mixed breed cat with out papers. I WONT..and I am a cat lover.
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