The Taoyuan City Government has evicted a tenant at one of its public housing units for contravening animal protection laws after three kittens fell to their death.
Investigators found that the tenant traveled abroad and did not install netting or other safety measures to protect the cats.
After receiving reports from local residents and receiving no response from the tenant, Taoyuan’s public housing agency together with police investigators on Friday broke into the unit, where they found five cats inside, the agency said.
Photo courtesy of the Taoyuan City Government’s Animal Protection Office
The unit is part of a public housing complex where three dead kittens were discovered on the ground, while evidence pointed to the cats having fallen from the tenant’s balcony, investigators said.
Neighbors had known she kept nine cats in total, and had a habit of feeding pigeons at the apartment, investigators added.
The tenant had traveled abroad, leaving out food and water for the cats, but did not install netting or other safety measures to prevent the animals from plunging to the ground, Taoyuan public housing agency head Chen Sung-feng (陳嵩豐) said.
The city government has issued an eviction notice to the tenant, as her lease is to expire at the end of this month, Chen said.
“It was due to local residents finding kittens that had fallen to death from her unit’s balcony, leading to public safety concerns,” Chen said. “The tenant lacks the responsibility to provide basic care for the pets and inside, it was messy and littered with garbage.”
“Officers found a fourth dead kitten inside, as well as three adult cats and two other kittens still alive in the domicile,” he added.
This is the first case in which someone has been evicted from public housing due to inadequate care for pets, Chen said.
“This incident raised public safety issues, led to fear and anxiety among neighbors, and is a major contravention of the law,” he said, adding that the agency has the right to evict the tenant from public housing.
The city’s Animal Protection Office staff yesterday said that they used food and a cage to capture the living cats remaining inside the unit, before transferring them to a better environment.
The tenant faces charges for contraventions of the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法).
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