Kiwi Cat Hoarder Fails in Bid to Overturn Ban on Keeping Cats

Fifty-one-year-old Tatyana Kondratyeva (she must be of Russian extraction) was convicted on animal cruelty charges and banned from owning animals for ten years. The reason she was convicted is because she hoarded 50 cats in appalling conditions. There were 38 dead cats in freezers etc.! We know these sorts of cases and this appears to be clear cut cat hoarding/cruelty.

Her appeal to New Zealand's Supreme Court (the highest court in the land) via a failed Appeal Court application, was based on the absurd claim that only 22 of the fifty cats in her "care" were suffering significant health problems! That is more than 50%. Come on Tatyana! Your application was flawed and doomed to fail from the outset. She has more money than sense.

It makes me wonder why someone with a bit of money was so negligently cruel to so many cats.

She also argued that New Zealand's prohibition orders lacked clear criteria. This was a technical point she was trying to use to her advantage but failed.

In any country there will be a very small proportion of cat owners who end up becoming cat hoarders and nearly all cat hoarders end up inadvertently being cruel to the cats in their charge. It is about neglect and a lack of moral bearings. They just don't get it. They don't understand that they are being cruel.

Often cat hoarders have mental issues but not always.