{"id":349527,"date":"2026-07-23T05:05:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349527\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T05:05:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:05:27","slug":"80-cats-found-in-florida-home-of-mail-carrier-who-collected-strays-along-her-route","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349527\/","title":{"rendered":"80 cats found in Florida home of mail carrier who collected strays along her route"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Evening<\/p>\n

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the US<\/p>\n

\"Evening<\/p>\n

Eighty cats have been rescued<\/a> from the home of a mail carrier who collected strays along her route. <\/p>\n

Authorities braved the stench and heat of the secluded home in Stuart, Florida<\/a>, where the animals were being kept in squalor. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re talking about in some places a foot of animal feces in that house,\u201d Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek told reporters Monday. \u201cThere is no air conditioning in that house. So when we cracked the door on it earlier today, the stench was unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 77-year-old woman living in the house, Gail Giustino, was charged with one count of Animal Cruelty and one count of Confinement of Animals Without Sufficient Exercise.<\/p>\n

Authorities were tipped off a couple of weeks ago about a woman who worked for the Postal Service and was \u201cstealing or collecting cats along her route,\u201d Budensiek said. <\/p>\n

\"EightyEighty cats have been rescued from the home of a mail carrier who collected strays along her route (Martin County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

\u201cShe didn’t steal somebody’s pet, but she was likely collecting feral cats,\u201d the sheriff emphasized. <\/p>\n

In addition to the 80 cats, 12 dogs were rescued Monday. While no animals are believed to be dead, their condition is unknown. <\/p>\n

Budensiek said the animals were fed, but there was no ventilation in the house and they were never brought outside. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey’ve been confined to that animal jail really for however long she’s been hoarding these pets in there,\u201d the sheriff said. <\/p>\n

\"GailGail Giustino, a 77-year-old mail carrier from Stuart, Florida, was charged with animal cruelty (Martin County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

Budensiek explained that the sheriff\u2019s office was \u201cnot trying to demonize\u201d Giustino, explaining that they didn\u2019t believe she was intentionally abusing the animals, but rather was suffering from some mental health issue. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe truly believe that Gail thinks she’s doing the right thing, but she’s doing it the wrong way,\u201d the sheriff said. <\/p>\n

Budensiek noted that this wasn\u2019t the first time authorities had to get involved at the home. <\/p>\n

Giustino was issued up to 65 civil citations at least a decade ago \u201cfor different types of animals that she was confining in her house.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe local sheriff said his office didn\u2019t believe Giustino was intentionally abusing the animals, but rather was suffering from some mental health issue (Martin County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

Budensiek said the sheriff\u2019s office tried to work with Giustino in the past week, but she was \u201cnot cooperative.\u201d<\/p>\n

When their animal control unit \u201cwould come to the house, she would do anything she could to try to stop them from seeing what was going on here,\u201d the sheriff said. <\/p>\n

Eventually, the sheriff\u2019s office went \u201cthe criminal route\u201d and obtained a search warrant to enter the house, Budensiek said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of arresting her was to be able to seize the animals, to save them from death, and try to get them the help that they need, and then to keep her from repossessing animals, and then to move her into mental health court so she can get the help that she needs to try to deal with what we’ve dealt with today and whatever needs she has,\u201d the sheriff explained. <\/p>\n

\"AllAll the animals rescued from the house, including 12 dogs, have been assessed and provided immediate care (Martin County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

The number of animals rescued would\u2019ve been higher, Budensiek said, but Giustino dropped off about 15 animals at two different facilities in Martin County in the last week. <\/p>\n

Budensiek said this was the \u201cworst case of animal hoarding that I’ve seen here in Martin County.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office\u2019s Animal Services Division and the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast have assessed all the animals and provided immediate care, according to a Facebook update<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The owners of five animals have been identified as of Tuesday afternoon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-349527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}