IBERIA PARISH, La. (KLFY) – Six house cats are dead after being left abandoned in an Iberia Parish home for months by their owner.

One witness says she was aware something was going on when the person living their stopped showing up. "I knew that she would leave for a week or two weeks or three weeks. In those times, I would keep an eye out to see if I could see the animals. This last time that she did this, I got very concerned and I started making some phone calls," said one resident.

The witness says months after the owner of the cats stopped showing up, she and her husband took the matter into thier own hands by going into the home after reaching out to the sheriffs office for help.

I cried a lot about it got upset about it," the witness said. "He (her husband) walked out one day and said, 'alright that's it. Come on.' and we busted it."

She and her husband decided to bust into the front door to see if what she was thinking this whole time was true or not. The couple found six cat carcasses scattered around the house. The resident says the sight she saw was horrific. "They were already starting to decay. I mean they were dried up. When they are dried up, they had been dead for quite a while."

The resident says she wants to do everything possible to make sure something like this never happens again. "I want her (the cat owner) to pay. The other thing is for the police department and the animal control to get some kind of understanding of exactly what can be done, how it can be done, and how to prevent this from happening again. Because those babies didn't deserve that."

The Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office released a statement regarding the cats saying as follows:

"As law enforcement officers, we never tolerate the abuse and cruelty of poor, innocent animals, the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office with assistance from the Iberia Parish Animal control have seized over 110 animals as in dog, cats, and livestock since 2021.

Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office