By Alexandra Posadzki
The Canadian Press
FENELON FALLS, Canada — When firefighters crawled into the smoke pouring from a burning house in central Ontario, they were shocked to find dozens of frightened animals scampering underneath and overtop of them to escape.
It took less than 15 minutes to put out the fire in Fenelon Falls. What remained was an overwhelming stench and about 300 pets that had to be moved to safety, a task that took more than eight hours.
“It irritated a number of us that this condition was allowed to exist,” Patrick Twohey, deputy chief of the Kawartha Lakes fire department, said Monday.
“Obviously it had fallen through the cracks. Why, in a residential area, are these many animals housed in one home?”
Fire officials say they found 38 cats, four dogs, 100 birds and numerous rats, gerbils, hamsters and rabbits in the one-storey Queen Street home Saturday afternoon.
Some of the firefighters had to chase the dogs as they ran out onto the street to escape the smoke, said Twohey. They captured as many as possible and put them in the back of half-tonne trucks to keep them warm.
One firefighter had to be taken to hospital for tetanus shots after a cat bit him through his heavy gloves while he was trying to get it out of the house.
Authorities estimated the fire, caused by a baseboard heater, left about $15,000 in damage.
After putting out the flames, the firefighters needed a warm place to keep the pets while they ventilated the home. They created a temporary shelter in a city-owned building and rented a truck to move the animals there.
Local business supplied pet food while the Humane Society and the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ensured the animals were checked by vets before being moved to various shelters.
A veterinarian called in to assess the animals said the stench in the house was so awful that neither the animals nor the homeowner should have been living there, said Ron Raymer, another deputy fire chief.
Raymer said the middle-aged woman who lives alone in the house was not home at the time of the blaze, which was phoned in by neighbours.
Officials declined to identify the woman. But the OSPCA, which is investigating the incident, says it’s not the first time they have received complaints about the woman’s pet hoarding.
Connie Mallory, chief inspector for the society, says the number of animals involved in previous complaints was minimal compared to what was found in the house Saturday.
Most of the pets were in relatively good condition, she said, but several of the cats were suffering from dental disease and others were at an unhealthy body weight.
“For the most part, people will collect animals with good intentions,” Mallory said.
“They often think that they’re doing the right thing. However, it comes to a point that they have far too many animals, they become overwhelmed and then things get out of control.”
Neither Mallory nor Twohey could confirm whether the woman suffers from mental illness, but Twohey said she is employed.
OSPCA spokeswoman Alison Cross says all 300 animals survived and have been seen by a vet, but they are being kept in shelters for now in case they need treatment for smoke inhalation.
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