Hundreds of cats seized from Upland animal rescue nonprofit at center of animal abuse investigation

UPLAND, Calif. (KABC) — Hundreds of cats were seized from an animal rescue nonprofit in Upland on Monday.

Box after box after box, Animal Shelter Services employees were seen removing cats from inside a nonprofit rescue that is now at the center of an animal abuse investigation.

So far, police say they think there are between 300 and 500 animals in all.

“The city’s Animal Control Department started getting complaints and actually developed some credible information that there was potential animal abuse and neglect and maybe some malnourished cats inside of the business,” said Sgt. Eric DiVincenzo with Upland police.

Upland police served a search warrant at the location inside an industrial complex on 11th Street, just east of Central Avenue.

Someone called authorities to report deplorable conditions inside, leading to the serving of this search warrant.

“We got complaints from surrounding businesses about sights, sounds, smells. People that came to visit the business or the building itself were reporting to animal control that they thought something wasn’t quite right,” DiVincenzo said.

So far, no one has been arrested. It’s too early to say whether anyone will face charges.

“It would depend on the severity of the injury or the illness, the degree of neglect, but it could be anywhere from misdemeanor to felony animal abuse,” DiVincenzo said.

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