Six Kittens Re-Homed in Jelliff Mill Animal Neglect Case

Six kittens found to be living in squalid conditions last month on Jelliff Mill Road have been re-homed, officials say.

Over the past two years, the head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section saw conditions deteriorate at the Cape-style home located on Jelliff Mill near Ponus Ridge, according to a case report obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request. 

Animal Control Officer Sean Godejohn observed a “somewhat liveable condition” and “healthy” cats at the house on an initial visit in January 2024 and would go there “a number of times” over the subsequent months, according to an incident report he wrote Sept. 23.

Yet the animals had never been brought to a veterinarian, he said, and in May of this year he received “an anonymous complaint for a number of cats living” in “horrible conditions” on the property, the case report said.

During a site visit, Godejohn found that “[a] number of doors and windows were open to the home.”

“No one was home at this time,” he wrote. “This officer could see what appeared to be some black mold growing on the ceiling of the kitchen through the back door that has no window. The house had a broken and rotting back porch with French doors leading into the back living room. The French doors were open and there was an abundant amount of trash in the home.”

Yet Godejohn also could not see any cats in or around the property, he said, and a phone call left by the home’s occupant went unreturned. About one month later, police officers who responded to the residence on a 911 hangup told Godejohn that they also didn’t see any cats at the home.

On Sept. 6, the occupant of the house reached out to police “for help with her cats,” though she did not contact a local rescue organization for help, Godejohn said.

On the morning of Sept. 22, after making a number of calls to check on the cats, Godejohn said he phoned the property’s owner, who also is the father of the tenant there. The two met nearby as the father told police that his daughter “can be quite confrontational,” the report said. (The daughter had recently been served an eviction notice.)

That same afternoon (a Monday), Godejohn met with father and daughter, as well as New Canaan Police Officer Joseph Schinella and Wilton Animal Control Officer Chris Muir. 

Doors and windows at the house had been left open and “[t]he yard was overgrown and it appeared that the grass and landscaping had not been maintained in a long period of time,” the report said.

“The house had a large amount of peeling blue paint exposing a number of the home’s wood shingles,” it said. “A number of trash piles littered everywhere outside the residence. This officer witnessed a number of empty containers stained with what appeared to be cat food residue. The back porch was broken, possibly rotted steps and boards that sagged as you walked on them.” 

With permission from the property-owning dad, the officers entered the home and found “piles of what appeared to be cat excrement littered in several areas of the home,” according to the case report.

It continued: “The hardwood floors were stained with what appeared to be cat urine. This officer found several empty food bowls in the home. This officer found one water bowl with water in it in a bathroom sink. The water was dark grey and did not appear to be healthy or clean drinking water. There were a large number of flies flying around inside the home. The smell of cat urine was subtle, however, a number of windows and doors in the home are open which could have diluted the smell. The kitchen ceiling and some of the wall was painted in what appeared to be black mold. The upstairs had some urine smell and was musty with a small number of what appeared to be cat feces. This officer found some kind of bone on top of one of the piles of trash upstairs.”

The basement also had trash, a leaking pipe “dripping water into an overflowing trash can” and “one large empty bag of cat food.”

Though police found no other cat food, cat litter or pans, medications or vet records in the house, they did find a number of kittens “confined to a small room behind the kitchen.”

The daughter agreed to surrender the animals, six kittens including one “nursing female cat” that appeared to be eight to 12 months old. The animals appeared to be “mostly healthy” though at least one had difficulties identified at a subsequent vet visit—for example, one male about eight to 10 weeks old was “missing a left-hind paw from what appeared to be a birth defect” and was “slightly underweight because with his birth defect it may have been difficult for him to fight for food.”

Brought to the town’s Animal Shelter at the Transfer Station, the kittens “appeared to be hungry” as they “immediately ate all the food this officer placed down for them,” Godejohn wrote in his case report.

Since then, the animals have all been adopted by homes and rescue organizations, the report said.