CRYSTAL, Minn. — A Crystal woman is charged with 10 felony counts involving mistreatment of animals after police and humane officials rescued more than 120 cats from her home.
Prosecutors detail the allegations against 47-year-old Shawna Maria Duffy, currently scheduled to make her first court appearance on April 30.
Police first became aware of the situation inside the home on Dudley Ave. N. in Crystal on Feb. 2 after Plymouth police informed them of an incident involving illegal dumping of animal waste that took place in 2023. During the investigation, Plymouth officers set up cameras and license plate readers near the dumping site and were able to identify a suspect, who told them the bags of cat feces were taken from the home of his girlfriend, Shawna Duffy.
Crystal officers went to Duffy's address and found she wasn't home, but they encountered a very strong odor of cat urine and feces that were noticeable 10 to 15 feet from the closed front door. They also documented the sound of numerous animals from inside the residence.
Animal control officers returned to the home on both Feb. 14 and 16 but could not make contact with Duffy or anyone else at the residence.
On Feb. 27 Crystal police served a search warrant at the home on Dudley Ave. N and found Duffy inside. The complaint says officers, along with animal control personnel and a crew from the Animal Humane Society, recovered 96 cats from inside the home. Every surface of the floors, walls and furniture was covered with a mud-like substance determined to be dried cat feces and vomit, and the air was thick with an ammonia smell from cat urine. There were holes in the walls that cats had gone into, and some were even located in furnace vents and a crawl space in the floor.
City inspectors were called to the scene and determined that the home was unfit for human habitation and was quickly boarded up.
During return trips to the home in early March additional cats were found and rescued.
Exams on the rescued animals found all of them were suffering from upper respiratory infections, some so severe that a few of the cats had to be euthanized. AHS staff determined approximately 70% of the rescues were underweight, and most were malnourished, dehydrated and undersocialized.
"The immediate suffering you see in front of you, that can be tough, it definitely hits you emotionally when you see what happens," Dr. Graham Brayshaw with AHS, said.
"You're preventing so much suffering," he continued. "These are cats that if you didn't do something, if we didn't respond to the situation, it's going to keep happening for them."
Brayshaw says the best thing people can do to help is to simply report any instances like this.
"We're not coming in wanting to throw the book at people, and if it's something that is not this severe, and we can get them resources and get the situation fixed, we want to do that, definitely do that first," he said.
Crystal Deputy Police Chief Brian Hubbard agrees with Dr. Brayshaw, saying getting the animal owner help is essential to make sure they don't just start hoarding animals again once legal sanctions end. He says the department's social worker is working with the defendant to make things better.
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