OLYPHANT, Pa. — A local veterinarian raised concerns earlier this summer to the Humane Society of Lackawanna County about the condition of cats coming to in from pet shelter in Olyphant, according to court filings obtained by Newswatch 16.
More than one month later, officers carried off more than 100 cats from the shelter and loaded them into vans.
"The officers and people at some of the larger rescue shelters felt we were overwhelmed with what we were trying to do at our small rescue felt they could intervene and help us with the pet situation and that's what they did," said Scott Babinski, director of Quigley's Shelter Pets.
Newswatch 16 reviewed the search warrant used to justify the seizure of cats from the Gravity Street home Babinski's non-profit used for years as an animal shelter.
According to the warrant, a local veterinarian brought concerns to authorities in July that cats coming to her office from Quigley's were in poor condition. Some were caked with feces and urine stains. Many had "extreme eye infections and dental issues." The veterinarian told authorities that in the last year, she euthanized a half-dozen cats from Quigley's. A few others brought in were already dead.
"We had some sick ones come in," Babinski said in an interview with Newswatch 16.
The complaint prompted a welfare check last month. The humane officer wrote in an affidavit that an "extreme, overwhelming" ammonia odor greeted her upon stepping through the door.
Overall, she noted that conditions seemed "mostly clean" and the cats varied in condition.
Then they went into the basement, where the officer found another 40 cats.
"It was extremely difficult to breathe in that area without a respirator due to the amount of ammonia," the officer wrote in the affidavit. "the flood had a buildup of feces, urine, hair and dirt."
The living conditions inside the house were unacceptable, the officer told Babinski. Babinski replied that he did not have the staff.
On Sunday, he told Newswatch 16 the same thing.
"With an all-volunteer staff it gets oppressive at time," Babinski said. "We have three sections in the building and each one requires 10 hours of work a day, so that's 30 hours of staffing that has to be done by all volunteers. So it just so happened that it got to that point when they came in, and like I said, when they came back the officer said 'oh, this is quite an improvement.'"
The humane officer noted that Babinski made "significant" efforts to clean the property, but some of the cats still appeared sick and the property still smelled of ammonia.
So, on Thursday, authorities moved to take the cats and place them elsewhere.
Babinski said he's worked with rescue animals for more than a decade and in recent years decided to start his own non-profit. He registered Quigley's Shelter Pets with the IRS in 2017 and purchased a former two-family home on Gravity Street in 2018 for use as a shelter, which he said the borough aware.
Babinski drew no salary, according to filings with the IRS, and he said he often spent his own money on expenses. The non-profit had a negative net fund balance in 2022, the latest year in which a tax Form 990 was filed.
He said he continued with the work because he is passionate about helping animals.
Since starting, many of the cats that came to the shelter were those who once belonged to a person who died and whose family could not look after.
"People have said 'we've called 11 places, we called 14 places, we called 25 places, we called 51 places and no one will help us,'" Babinski said. "So let's see if we can help a little with their cats."
That led to more than 100 cats housed at the Gravity Street property.
"I told him that's when you have to start saying no," the humane officer wrote that she told Babinski.
No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the search. The Lackawanna County district attorney's office said the investigation remained ongoing.
"If we have to go in front of a magistrate or so on we're going to go in and address everything that they have to talk about and I'm going to tell the truth," he said.