Cat hoarder was rescuing cats from cat hoarders in Florida

NEWS AND VIEWS - FLORIDA, USA: This is a sad story because Michelline Toulouse was an animal rescuer worker volunteer. And now she's been charged with animal cruelty (9 counts) and theft. She had more than 50 cats at her apartment in very poor conditions. Previously she had allegedly stolen $300 from the rescue organisation she worked for: Saving Sage Animal Rescue. She was caught on surveillance cameras.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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She was sacked for the theft. A colleague visited her home to check on her and discovered the filth and 50+ cats. They were malnourished and 10 were dead. The scene was the usual cat hoarder scenario: mess, urine, faeces and the stench of ammonia. Some of the cats were living in the walls.

Michelline Toulouse. Video screenshot.

It transpired that Toulouse had been to cat hoarding houses to rescue cats! It is very strange that a cat hoarder was rescuing cats from cat hoarders. She had her own rescue called Love is Feral. She was involved in trapping, rehabilitating and rehoming homeless cats in Florida. That was her front, her image.

Toulouse was saving cats during part of her day and allegedly killing them during the remaining part through neglect and hoarding.

Cat hoarder was rescuing cats from cat hoarders in Florida. Screenshot.

Her boyfriend also faces charges. Cat hoarding is a mental health issue. It has been called a specific mental health issue but it is an extension to the hoarding of inanimate objects. Hoarders don't have the capacity to make a decision about divesting themselves of the objects they hoard so they never release them. It is about risk aversion and the inability to make decisions.

P.S. I am unsure but I think the rescue is named after Sage the cat who was brutally killed and the perpetrator never found.