Cat Breeder: City Fabricating Case

BOSTON -- The woman who Boston city inspectors say had more than 60 dead cats inside her Beacon Hill apartment says the city's claims are fabrications.

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Cat Breeder Says Case Blown Out Of Proportion

Cat breeder Heidi Erickson failed to appear for a condemnation hearing on her apartment Thursday. NewsCenter 5's Lynn Jolicoeur reported that Erickson is claiming she ran a legitimate cat breeding operation out of her apartment. She told WCVB that city inspectors are blowing the situation out of proportion and making things up.

"The display was so perverse," she said in a telephone interview.

Erickson said city inspectors were putting on a sick show when they donned full-body protection and removed everything from her apartment, including dead cats.

"If they [inspectors] were protecting themselves from harm, why am I not harmed? It was ejection, it was a total eviction," she said.

At the hearing Thursday, which Erickson didn't attend, inspectors showed photographs of the more than 60 dead kittens and cats they allegedly found in freezers and other locations in her unit. She disputes their numbers.

"There were no dead cats in the hallway. That is a total fabrication," she said.

Why was she storing any dead animals? She said it was for futural burial and proper cloning.

"Many breeders will not admit it, but 40 percent of litters do not survive. So responsible breeders try to breed out those that do not breed well," Erickson said.

She said the city is singling her out for a witch hunt, not just trying to bring her place up to code. Health officials said they may take steps to prevent Erickson from renting in the city again.

"We're also looking at our options for amending that to pursue some relief that would enjoin her from also leasing other units," John Dorsey of the city's inspectional services department said.

But Erickson said she wants her apartment back now.

"I am extremely concerned about where and how my cats, the ones that are alive that were in the apartment, are being treated," Erickson said.

A city hearing officer is to decide within a week whether to uphold a condemnation order on Erickson's apartment. At this point, Erickson is not facing any criminal charges and she said she's not worried about being arrested in this case.