The “house of horrors” recently discovered in Antibes is reminiscent of other sordid stories involving animalswhich took place in recent years in the Alpes-Maritimes.
December 2021: dozens of cat corpses in a house in Nice North
The discovery shocked the few volunteers who had access to this “house of horror” in Niceaccording to their own words. Dozens of corpses of cats and animals in distress had been found on a winter Sunday in terrible conditions.
At the origin of this macabre find, the family of an octogenarian, who had contacted animal protection associations after realizing that their hospitalized father had left behind dying animals.
“Scabby animals. Some were locked in the garden shed, the door of which was blocked by stones. Obviously no one was coming to feed them,” they described at the time.
The situation inside the house was equally alarming: “The floor was covered in diarrhea. When we opened it, around ten cats escaped. Those we managed to catch had to be brought to the veterinary emergency room dying.”
The volunteers then also found animal corpses scattered throughout the property : “We counted more than a hundred. There were in the house, in the bathroom, in the garage and on the rest of the property.”
Many were locked in sealed plastic crates or nailed wooden boxes, which led to the belief that it was a collector having a macabre ritual.
July 2023: around a hundred cats, puppies and animal corpses in an apartment in Nice
In July 2023, the national police discovered an apartment in Nice where catastrophic hygienic conditions reigned. On site, a couple piled up around a hundred cats and several puppies.
The intervention was triggered by a water leak reported by the apartment ownerwho had tried to call a plumber. The couple refused to open the door and threatened to commit suicide by turning on the gas. The police finally managed to neutralize them, revealing the horror.
Inside, the smell of urine was so strong that it “you jump[ait] in your face and don't let go[ait] plus”. The ground was covered in feces, and the humid summer heat made the situation even more unbearable.
Everywhere in the apartment, undernourished and dehydrated catswhile bags containing animal corpses crowded in the shower and bathroom.
There too, after animal rights associations were alerted, their volunteers evacuated the live animals, transporting the cats and puppies to vehicles to take them to the veterinarian. In all, a terrible record of 120 living cats, as well as 5 dogs and 10 dead felines.
The couple responsible had then been placed in police custody. And the Arpa association had filed a complaint for “animal mistreatment, acts of barbarism and cruelty”.
February 2024: 117 cat corpses in a house in La Roquette-sur-Siagne
New year, new macabre discovery. 117 cat corpses were found in February in a house in La Roquette-sur-Siagne, in the Alpes-Maritimes.
Among them, 67 were crammed into a freezer located at the back of a chaletwhile 50 others were hidden under tiles in the garden. Moreover, 38 live catsbut in a pitiful state, were found locked in an aviary.
Neighbors, alerted by the pestilential odors of urine and excrement as well as cries of suffering, reported the situation.
The owner of the premises “brought cats to pharmacies, half dead, to demand care”, according to Nathalie Bassot, president of the Animal Protection Investigators Association (AEPA).
An AEPA volunteer described the deplorable state of the premises for Nice-Matin: “Around 10 a.m., we were able to enter the property. The cats that were still alive ran away, but they were held back by an aviary. The filth was unspeakable.” By opening a closed shed, the latter then discovered the freezer containing the corpses: “I felt a shiver run through me. I already knew what I was going to find there.”
“We regularly heard fighting meows and cries of suffering”assured neighbors. After a first report in 2018 and a seizure in 2021the ordeal was finally over for the felines.
The 38 living cats were then placed in several associations to receive the necessary care.
The owner, Guy V., a 66-year-old man, was placed in police custody and then summoned before the Grasse criminal court in June 2024. He was prosecuted for “willful abandonment and deprivation of care of domestic animals”. But he was not prosecuted for “serious abuse” or “cruelty towards animals”.
He had stated that he did not have time to bury the animals.
