The owner of a house filled with the skeletal remains of dozens of cats was charged with animal cruelty on Sunday.
Fairfax law enforcement said Pamela Louise Wykle, 50, left 27 live cats inside her home around the past holiday season, and had not returned since. Last week, those cats were found in various stages of decomposition.
"Years ago there was a problem with the number of cats she had outside and there were complaints, a neighbor, Barbara Harral, told NBC4. "She had set traps for the cats that she fed outside and so we thought the problem had gone away. Apparently she must have just taken the cats inside the house and they were never outside."
Wykle has been charged with six counts of animal cruelty, two counts of failure to properly dispose of dead animals, and two counts of maintaining unsanitary conditions.
Her house on 1318 Summerfield Drive was declared uninhabitable by Herndon zoning officers last week, because of the unhealthy conditions created by the dead animals. Even after the removal of the dead cats from the home, a strong smell still lingered over the neighborhood.
Animal control officers became aware of the situation last Tuesday while chasing two stray dogs in the neighborhood. While officers were in the back yard, they were able to see skeletal remains of cats inside the home. Fearing that a person might be in distress inside the home, they forced the door, which is when they discovered dozens of corpses.
A man who identified himself as Wykle's father told NBC4 that she had been staying at his home for the past few weeks, and that she worked for a law firm in downtown D.C.
