DCist was shocked and a bit saddened to read about animal control officers removing 273 cats (86 of them dead) from a home in Mount Vernon yesterday after neighbors complained about the odor coming from the house. After arriving on the scene, officials condemned the house due to the dead cats, feces and urine that were inside and evicted owner Ruth Knueven as well as her husband and daughter. However, police caught Knueven returning to the house last night trying to remove another 30 cats from the premises, bringing the feline count to an incredible 303.

According to the Post, Knueven was issued one criminal summons for failure of owner to care for animals and another summons for failure to dispose of dead animals properly. Additionally, a civil petition charging her as an unfit owner was also issued. This isn’t Knueven’s first run in with animal control; she was cited for similar circumstances in August of 2001.

Any reader worth their salt knows that DCist loves animals of all types, although this might be pushing it a bit. However, we’d like to take this opportunity to let readers know some local animal shelters where we’ve adopted some of our own pets:

This DCist got his cat, Mr. Pink, from Metro Ferals, a shelter that works with Alley Cat Allies and deals specifically with finding domestic homes for young feral kittens that display social behavior. DCist Becca got her two cats from the Feline Foundation. DCist Amadie adopted her kitty’s Spenser and Kinsey from Animal Welfare League of Alexandria. Austin used to volunteer at the Washington Animal Rescue League and recommends them highly.

As you can see, we skew a bit to the feline side of things, so if you have a recommendation for your favorite dog shelter, feel free to leave it in the comments. Petfinder offers up a wealth of information on local shelters as well as animals currently up for adoption, but be careful you don’t waste all day clicking on the photos.