52 Neglected Animals Taken From Home

Humane Society workers in two raids this week took eight dogs and 44 cats from a home in Thousand Oaks, where the cats had been kept locked in a waste-filled garage with no food or water.

The workers, wearing surgical masks to mask the stench and bearing a search warrant, removed 40 animals Tuesday. Another 12 animals that could not be accommodated Tuesday were removed in a second visit Thursday.

Neighbors had called the Humane Society to complain about the smell issuing from the garage, said Jolene Hoffman, director of the Humane Society of Ventura County.

The home’s resident, Glenda Bielinski, had kept 44 cats and kittens locked inside the garage of her home on the 2300 block of Calle Verbena, Hoffman said.

‘No Light, No Food’

“The garage was closed up; it was hot, with no light, no food or water, just mounds of animal waste,” she said. “Most of the females are either pregnant or in heat, and all of them were thin.”

The eight dogs seized had been kept in the woman’s yard, Hoffman said. The dogs were not undernourished because neighbors had been giving them food and water, she said.

Bielinski, who was not home when the animals were taken, could be charged with improperly caring for animals, a misdemeanor, Hoffman said.

She said the case will be turned over to the Ventura County district attorney’s office Monday. The dogs and cats are at the Humane Society’s animal shelter in Ojai, she said.

Bielinski was not available for comment.

Hoffman said she did not know where Bielinski got the animals or how long the cats had been kept in the garage.