The bodies of eight animals removed from Bellevue condo

BELLEVUE – Police found the emaciated bodies of seven cats and one small dog in a condo after calls from neighbors.

The animals apparently died from heat and lack of food and water, police spokesman Michael Chiu said Friday.

One officer told the King County Journal the odor was “worse than any dead body I’ve ever had to deal with.” Andreas Kischel, who lives in a unit next door, said he called police on Wednesday when he became concerned about the animals. Neighbors said someone kicked in the door Thursday night.

A woman who has lived in the condo since the early 1980s apparently moved out to be with her ailing mother about nine months ago.

For a while, the woman’s former roommate had been stopping by once a week to care for the animals, but Kischel said no one had entered the condo for at least three weeks. He often saw the cats pawing at a front window, he said. When he stopped seeing them, he called police.

Police on Friday hadn’t yet contacted the woman believed responsible for the animals, Chiu said, but planned to do so soon as they pursued an animal cruelty investigation.