In September 2015, RSPCA South Australia inspectors entered a Woodville West home in Adelaide’s north-west and found only one of 14 cats still alive. ABC reported that staff later named the surviving cat Trooper; when inspectors arrived, he was emaciated and crying from inside the property.

Chief inspector Andrea Lewis described the scene as heartbreaking. According to the ABC report, the cats had been left without food or water for so long that the surviving cat likely lived by eating the remains of the others. The 43-year-old woman failed to attend multiple court appearances and was later remanded in custody.

In November 2016, the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court convicted the woman of animal cruelty and banned her from owning animals, with mental-health issues considered in sentencing. RSPCA emphasized that people who can no longer care for animals must seek help from family, neighbours, councils or shelters rather than abandon them.

This archive uses ABC/RSPCA images of Trooper to record the surviving animal and rescue outcome; it does not use images of the abandoned interior or animal remains. The case is classified as severe long-term neglect and abandonment creating mass animal death risk.

Sources

• ABC News: Cats eat each other after being abandoned in house, woman convicted of cruelty