A hoarding Florida mail carrier accused of “collecting cats” along her postal route was arrested after deputies discovered more than 100 animals living inside her feces-filled home, where some rooms were buried under a foot of waste, authorities said.
Gail Giustino, 77, was busted after detectives armed with a search warrant made the foul-smelling discovery on July 20 inside the cat lady’s house in Stuart, located about 40 miles south of West Palm Beach, according to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff John Budensiek said authorities tried to get inside the uncooperative elderly woman’s home for weeks after someone reported that a postal worker was “stealing or collecting cats” on the job.
When those efforts failed, investigators obtained a warrant.
Detectives, firefighters and animal control officers wearing hazmat suits entered the musty house and encountered an overpowering stench, sweltering temperatures, no air conditioning or ventilation, and more than 100 animals living in cages and squalor.
“The stench was unreal,” Budensiek said.
“The air was stifling hot. Clearly, this is a hoarder scenario, worst case of animal hoarding that I’ve seen here in Martin County.”
The pets — roughly 70 cats and the rest dogs — were in “pretty terrible shape,” an animal rescuer told Fox News.
“They were really just shut down. Some of the cats were catatonic; they wouldn’t even move. They were traumatized,” the rescuer added.
Since 2014, Giustino’s home has been hit with about 65 citations because of the conditions she kept her animals in, according to police.
“Do we want to arrest a 77-year-old lady? The answer is absolutely not,” Budensiek said.
“We truly believe that Gail thinks she’s doing the right thing, but she’s doing it the wrong way.”
She was charged with one count each of animal cruelty and confinement of animals without sufficient exercise. She could have faced up to 160 counts of animal cruelty, the outlet reported.
Giustino, who has worked for the US Postal Service since 1997, has been released on $50,000 bond. Budensiek said he hopes the process leads to her getting mental health treatment.
In the days following the arrest, county officials were able to find three of the four cats who escaped the house of horrors during the rescue operation.
One of Giustino’s friends surrendered five more small pets that the postal worker allegedly left in her care, Sarah Fisher of the Humane Society of Treasure Coast told Fox News.
By July 29, the humane society had received 108 pets from her home. And dozens of people have been lining up each day hoping to be reunited with their missing furry friends and felines.
Several people have already been joyfully reconnected with their fur babies.
“There were grown men crying; there were kids crying. It was so emotional,” Fisher told the outlet.
Linh Nguyen, who had been searching for her 6-year-old cat Patchy for seven months, said her prayers for a “miracle” were finally answered.
Martin County Sheriff’s Office and an attorney for Giustino did not immediately return requests for comment.
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