Caboodle Ranch Cat ‘Sanctuary’ Operator Faces Cruelty Charges Based on Evidence of Systemic Neglect and Unnecessary Suffering

 Today, based on evidence gathered during a PETA undercover investigation, Madison County law-enforcement officials, with the aid of humane organizations, are seizing hundreds of animals from so-called “sanctuary” Caboodle Ranch, Inc. PETA’s five-month investigation found systemic and sometimes fatal neglect of animals at the “rescue sanctuary,” which has long been a source of complaints registered to PETA.

Video footage taken by a PETA investigator shows cats suffering from upper-respiratory infections so severe that the animals gasped for air and struggled to breathe as mucus dripped from their noses. One cat, Lilly, was left to languish for months with a perforated cornea and eventually died. PETA’s investigator found cats covered with flies and confined to areas littered with vomit, waste, and trash. Areas in which medical drugs were stored were crawling with maggots. PETA submitted detailed complaints to county officials and the Third Judicial Circuit of Florida State Attorney Robert L. Jarvis. Cruelty-to-animals charges against Craig Grant, Caboodle Ranch’s founder and operator, are pending.

“Cats at Caboodle Ranch suffered from open wounds, debilitating respiratory disease, parasites, eye ulcerations, and more,” says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “‘No kill’ was really ‘slow kill’ for hundreds of cats in this grossly inhumane ‘cat ranch.'”

PETA’s investigator documented the following:

• Grant knowingly deprived cats of emergency veterinary care—and some cats died as a result. Grant allowed cats afflicted with parasites and fatal, transmissible viruses to spread the diseases and allowed others to breed.

• Grant intentionally hid—and instructed others to hide from visitors—cats who were clearly in need of medical care that he was not providing.

• Caboodle Ranch consisted of dilapidated, moldy trailers and severely crowded kennels. It had no full-time help to care for nearly 500 cats.

PETA is also submitting formal complaints to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and to the Internal Revenue Service asking that Grant be investigated and charged accordingly.

Broadcast-quality video footage from PETA’s investigation is available. For more information, please visit PETA.org.