Gail Giustino, a 77-year-old mail carrier, was arrested July 20 after authorities found more than 100 animals held in feces-filled cages in her Stuart home.
She’d been “collecting cats” she found along her mail route, Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said.
Authorities removed 80 cats and 12 dogs from the Stuart-area home of Gail Giustino on July 20.
With no air conditioning or ventilation, the home was “probably 110 degrees” on the late July day when the animals were removed, Budensiek said in a news conference on July 20 outside Giustino’s home.
“We were coming out here thinking maybe 15, 20, 30 cats,” he told reporters, as people wearing white hazmat suits carried out cages holding dozens of cats and at least a dozen small dogs.
The odor inside the home was devastating.
Investigators faced an “overwhelming” smell of “animal urine, feces, and ammonia,” an odor that wafted outside the house, authorities said.
“When we cracked the door…the stench was unreal,” Budensiek said. “The air was stifling hot.”
The conditions left no room for the animals to survive safely.
The “deplorable” conditions inside the house left “no safe path of entry due to excessive debris, animal feces, and urine,” investigators reported. There was “a foot of animal feces” in parts of the house, Budensiek said.
Some of the caged cats were held fast in feces that had hardened like concrete.
Staffers had to smash bricks of feces from around the cats’ legs to allow them to move, Sarah Fisher, spokeswoman for the Humane Society of Treasure Coast, told Fox News Digital.
Budensiek painted a bleak picture of what the animals endured.
“She never walks the pets. She never brings them outside of the house. They’ve been confined to that animal jail really for however long she’s been hoarding these pets.”
The arrest could have led to severe charges.
Giustino could have been charged with up to 160 counts of animal cruelty, Budensiek said. Instead, she was charged with one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty and one misdemeanor count of confinement of animals without sufficient exercise.
She was released on a $50,000 bond.
Budensiek suggested Giustino believed she was helping the animals.
“We truly believe that Gail thinks she’s doing the right thing,” he said. “But she’s doing it the wrong way,” He added that “The goal of arresting her was to be able to seize the animals, to save them from death and try to get them the help that they need.”
Authorities also hoped the process would lead to mental health treatment for Giustino.
She did not respond to requests for comment.
Giustino started working for the U.S. Postal Service in 1997 and is still employed, said Debra Jean Fetterly, a USPS spokesperson for South Florida.
Giustino was issued up to 65 citations throughout the years from animal control and got assistance installing better ventilation for the animals 10 years ago, Budensiek said.
The case has already delivered miracles for some pet owners. Stuart, Florida, resident Linh Nguyen spent seven months wondering whether she would ever get her cat back, eventually coming to terms with the fact she would likely never see him again. Nguyen said he had been missing since January, and CBS12 reported that she was reunited with him on July 22 after learning he was part of the rescue.
Nguyen said “I feel like I got back a family member. It’s like a child to me.”
She had lost hope months earlier.
Nguyen told Fox News Digital “I’d been praying for his return for seven months.” She posted fliers offering a $5,000 reward for Patchy’s return. She rode her bike through the neighborhood late at night calling his name until she was hoarse.
She pleaded in faith, “If You do a miracle and bring my cat home, I will tell everyone it is You.” When she stepped into the Humane Society, he saw her right away, she said. She heard meowing that got progressively louder. “I couldn’t see him, but I recognized his voice.”
The emotional toll on shelter workers has been evident.
Staffers said the animals “were in pretty terrible shape.” “Some of the cats were catatonic; they wouldn’t even move. They were traumatized.”
But healing has begun for the rescued animals.
Shelter staff say many were underweight or suffering from skin conditions, dental disease and other health problems. Patchy is thriving at home again and is enjoying walks on a leash.
The case continues to expand.
Days after the arrest, Martin County officials were able to trap and bring in three of four cats that escaped during the rescue effort at Giustino’s home. And a friend surrendered five more small dogs Giustino allegedly left in her care, Fisher said.
By July 29, the humane society had received 108 animals from Giustino’s home. “We unfortunately are anticipating more of Gail’s animals to be coming in the coming weeks” from her friends’ homes, Fisher said.