SAYREVILLE, NJ — The town of Sayreville is suing a resident in town, saying the woman has opened her house as a refuge for more than 30 feral cats and has attracted a massive flea infestation to the neighborhood.

The borough of Sayreville filed the lawsuit last Friday, July 15, in Middlesex County Superior Court against resident Maureen Jenkins, who lives on Henry Street.

In their lawsuit, Sayreville is trying to force Jenkins to have her house fumigated. The town also seeks a court order preventing Jenkins from owning any future pets.

Sayreville's lawsuit included multiple hand-written letters from neighbors on Henry Street who say their children and pets are being attacked by fleas just walking to the bus or walking on the sidewalk in front of her home. In fact, the flea infestation at Jenkins' home is so bad that the U.S. mail carrier for Henry Street put in a special request not to have to deliver mail to her, because he said he was bitten by fleas every time he had to drop off mail at her door.

When health officers obtained a warrant and went inside the home at the end of June, they said they found three dead cats kept inside, plus they found a dead raccoon carcass hanging from her roof.

But they say Jenkins allows as many as 30 cats to freely roam in and out of her home through holes in the siding and roof, said the town.

The flea infestation at Jenkins' home is so bad that it is spreading to homes next door. A neighboring child of Jenkins used the trampoline in her backyard earlier this summer and needed medical attention and medication because she got so many flea bites, wrote the girl's mother. The family in that house has had to throw away linens, clothing and furniture because the fleas have gotten into their home, said the woman.

In the other house immediately next door to Jenkins, the man who just purchased the property said he wears a white bodysuit while cutting the grass because so many fleas from her property jump on him. This man said he has been unable to even sleep one night inside his new home or bring his dogs inside, because he is fearful they will be "eaten alive." He said buying the property next to Jenkins has turned into "a living hell" of home ownership.

Sayreville and Middlesex County have been monitoring Jenkins' home since at least mid June:

On June 14, Sayreville Animal Control was called to Jenkins' home after concerned neighbors called Associated Human Societies, saying there was a rotting carcass of a dead cat on her roof.

When officers first got there, one of the officers said that he at first did not know the cat was on the roof, and he searched some bushes near her home for the cat, because that's where the smell was coming from.

But he emerged from the bushes covered in fleas. There was also a "strong odor of urine and feces" emanating from inside the home, said officers.

The next day, when officers returned, a second Animal Control officer said he "could not make it to the front door because of the amount of fleas jumping onto his shirt and face and biting him inside of his socks."

Neighbors and officers confirmed that the cats move freely in and out of her home due to many holes in her home, and that Jenkins has been seen carrying 50-pound bags of cat food in and out of the home

On June 21, a Middlesex County Health Department employee went to her home and became bitten by fleas. That same day, the Middlesex County Health Dept. also sent her a written letter requesting her to fumigate her home within 10 days. The county also said she had to obtain licenses for all the cats within 10 days.

The next day, June 22, county officials and hazmat officers returned to her home wearing full hazmat suits and using respirators. However, Jenkins did not allow them inside. She did allow them to go into her backyard where county employees said they found a second dead cat decaying underneath some bushes in the backyard and a suspected dead raccoon hanging from a hole between the roof and the siding of the home.

Then on June 28, detectives with the Middlesex County Prosecutor's office obtained a search warrant to enter her home, where three dead cats and two living cats were recovered inside. The woman kept 10 bowls of cat food in her attic for the animals.

Sayreville town law states that residents are only allowed to have five pets in their home at one time. Additionally, the Sayreville building department has issued several notices to Jenkins requiring her to fix holes in her roof and siding, and the building department warned that they could demolish the property if she does not comply.

She has not filed a response in court.

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