Pathetic slap on the wrist for Ryan Ross for gross cat abuses

OPINION AND NEWS: I have just read that this Oak Creek man, Ryan Ross, has been ordered to pay a total of $100 in fines for what I consider to be a massive abuse of domestic cats. The fine is poultry, pathetic and insulting to the general public. The judge should be assessed for his suitability to the task.

Ryan Ross. Image: Fox 6.

Ross was charged in 2019 when it was discovered that 117 cats were 'living' in a home in which he used to live. More than half of them had to be euthanized. Obviously, there were a very large number of very sick cats due to his acute neglect. In specific numbers, the rescuers of the cats decided that 67 of them had to be euthanised because they were in such a state that it was not possible to treat them and rehome them.

Briefly, Ross began taking in unowned cats in 2017 without ensuring that they were sterilised and therefore rapidly became overrun and couldn't cope. He eventually left the home leaving the cats there and a neighbour said that they hadn't seen anybody at the home for at least two months which prompted the investigation. You can imagine what the home was like, the usual piles of faeces and rubbish et cetera.

The prosecutors said that there was no food or water for the animals. The company supplying the water said that water had not been used at that property since early May 2019. He never took the cats to a vet and he admitted that he couldn't cope. The usual horrendous ammonia smell emanated from the property. There were cats at windows. It was a classic case of cat hoarding, neglect, inadequacy, irresponsibility and ultimately cat cruelty and death. It appears that some cats starved to death, a very painful process.

He was charged with four counts of animal mistreatment and his maximum punishment could have been six years in prison according to my online research. I'm not sure how they decided those four counts of animal punishment. I would have thought that it could have been 67 counts of animal mistreatment because 67 cats were euthanised because they were beyond hope of treatment. It seems to me that the whole process has been dealt with poorly and not seriously enough by the authorities. It's a classic case of "it's only cats" meaning that the animals had an incredibly low value to the prosecuting authorities and the judge.

There is no possibility of an improvement in the animal-to-human relationship if people value animals this poorly.