It’s a Zoo at Shelters Holding Pets Confiscated in Raid

Sure, you love your pet. It has its own unique personality and does that cute little trick with the ball of yarn.

But do you know your pet well enough to pick it out of hundreds of other furry critters cramped into cages and kennels?

That is the predicament facing people who boarded their pets with an animal rescue facility in Van Nuys that was raided and shut down last month by the city’s Animal Services Department.

Doris Romeo, the owner of the Pets for Life facility, was arrested on charges of cruelty and neglect for keeping the animals in what authorities called deplorable conditions. Animal service officials confiscated all 617 cats and dogs being kept at the facility.

Now the Animal Services Department wants pet owners who boarded their pets with Romeo to come claim them.

But it may not be easy to identify the pets because the animals are being kept in groups of dozens if not hundreds in cages and kennels at three different city shelters in Chatsworth, North Hollywood and Lincoln Heights.

The Animal Services Department has no system to locate a specific animal. There is no computer program that can instantly tell an owner that his orange tabby with the green eyes is housed in kennel number three. In fact, the department is not even sure how many of the 617 animals have owners and how many were strays.

Animal services officials concede it won’t be easy for owners to identify their pet on sight amid a sea of anxious faces and wagging tails.

“It’s going to be nearly impossible [to identify them] because of the number of animals,” said Peter Persic, an animal regulation spokesman.

Nonetheless, the department is giving owners between today and Aug. 16 to claim them. Owners must show veterinary records, photographs or some other proof of ownership before the animals are released.

To date, about a dozen people have claimed their pets. But Dena Mangiamele, the department’s chief veterinarian, said some owners have had difficulty.

“I had a woman come in and say ‘I’m looking for a female calico. Do you have that?’ Well, I have about 200,” she said.

“It’s pretty overwhelming to see 90 cats in a room.”

Sadly, some owners may never find their pets because nearly 200 of the confiscated animals have since been euthanized after they were diagnosed with serious health problems, such as intestinal parasites or chronic viral infections.

To reunite with their pets, owners must make an appointment with an animal shelter worker, who will help the owner with the search.

After Aug. 16, the animals that have not been claimed will be available for the general public to adopt.