15 felines, 12 over limit, cause catfight in Dudley; Family fined $100 a day, puts home on market.

Byline: Brian Lee 

DUDLEY - Mary Ellen Richards of Kennedy Drive has lots of cats.

That's about the only thing she and some neighbors and town officials agree on.

With what she said are 15 pet cats, 12 more than the town allows in a residence, Mrs. Richards said she is being pushed out of the home she has lived in since 1997. A few weeks ago the family put the house on the market.

Mrs. Richards said she isn't running a business, the cats aren't troubling to neighbors and claims that two neighbors tip-toed around her to complain.

The town has fined her $1,800 as of yesterday, $100 a day since a cease-and-desist order was instituted by building inspector Daniel J. Heney.

Town Administrator Peter Jankowski said Mr. Heney periodically checks Mrs. Richards' house to see if she still has more than three cats. At one time the inspector reported more than 20 cats.

"We have to take action and make sure she complies with zoning as we'd do with anybody," the administrator said, adding the issue was brought forward by the neighbors and the town doesn't actively look for people with more than three cats.

The neighbors say going to the town was a last resort because they are tired of seeing urine and picking up cat poop that is clearly from Mrs. Richards' pets.

Amy Orn, who lives across the street, said her 2-year-old daughter contracted Coxsackie virus last month, likely from her toy or ball that had contacted feces. Mrs. Orn said her 8-year-old daughter is allergic to cats and dogs and has eczema and asthma.

Mrs. Richards asserts the virus can't be contracted from stepping in cat poop and challenges the neighbor to present medical proof of it. She said the cats in her home are fully vetted and up-to-date on shots.

Around Labor Day Weekend, when the Orns were away, one of Mrs. Richards' cats entered the Orns' garage and remained there for three days. When the family returned, they found cat feces and urine. Mrs. Orn told Mrs. Richards to come get her cat. Mrs. Richards called for Willow and the pet emerged. Mrs. Richards cleaned up the mess. Hard feelings remain.

Mrs. Orn said she told Mrs. Richards they needed to discuss what she felt was a major problem. "She said, `Not right now. He's hungry and needs to be fed and taken care of,'" Mrs. Orn said.

The neighbor never returned, Mrs. Orn alleges. "That's why we went to the town. My husband (Glenn) said enough is enough. There is feces on my son's window. We can't even open the window."

Mrs. Orn showed a reporter a photograph of her husband's parked car and what she said was one of Mrs. Richards' cats and a dead bird. The cats also bring dead mice to their yard.

"We pay taxes, a mortgage," Mrs. Orn said. "My children can't play." Nodding to her 13-year-old son, Mrs. Orn said, "He goes to play baseball, mow the lawn, he's stepping in feces."

Mrs. Richards, who lives with her husband and an adult son who has half the house, said she is moving away after realizing "no one was going to budge for me in the town." She said she loves the house and pool, but loves the cats more.

To a lesser degree they are moving so her husband can be closer to his job in the Upton area, Mrs. Richards said.

Mrs. Richards said she is affiliated with Willy's Kitty Angels Rescue, which traps feral and stray cats in the Dudley-Webster area to control the population.

Mrs. Richards said they do adoptions, but adoptions are not being done in her household. They are done out of foster homes in other towns.

Mrs. Richards says she takes the cats to free clinics. She admitted there were occasions when a couple of cats spent the night in her garage, but the general rule is to take them back to where they came from.

Mrs. Richards said the neighbors' claims are upsetting.

"This is the worst thing in my life to happen, this whole thing," she said.

Wherever they move to, Mrs. Richards said, "I will make sure there are no laws like this because unfortunately it's kind of rare to try to limit people's cats," but not dogs.

Neighbors Milton and Ann Tootell say they spent $400 fixing up their front yard which had cat feces. They replaced red mulch with stone.

"I'm not pushing anybody out of a house," the retired Mr. Tootell said. "All I'm asking her to do is go with the law."

A 38-year resident of the street, Mr. Tootell said he and Mr. Orn complained to town officials. He said he was tired of picking up cat feces in his yard.

Mr. Tootell said the cats go under his bushes and agitate his German shepherd. He often hears the cats crying at 1 or 2 in the morning, almost like a baby. This summer he picked up about six dead mice in his driveway and walkway, and a few dead birds.

A few months ago the feces problem grew worse. There was a bad smell in front of his house and he figured it was a broken underground pipe.

"I go get my hose," Mr. Tootell said. "I stepped in some. ... I looked around, I'll bet you I had over 100 pieces."

Mrs. Richards said she has had the cats five years. Mr. Tootell said it wasn't until the summer he noticed more and more cats running around. "I never seen so many cats," he said.

ART: PHOTO

PHOTOG: T&G Staff/STEVE LANAVA

CUTLINE: Mary Ellen Richards of Kennedy Drive spends time with her cats.