By Candie Beck thecabin.net Copyright 2011 The Cabin. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

A modern day good Samaritan may have brought to light a more detailed situation than he realized when he stopped to render aid to an elderly couple Sunday.

Jimmy Dalton was traveling down Highway 36 outside of Conway when he came upon a man that was using a walker to stand and was waving his cane trying to get the attention of drivers as those drove past him. Dalton, who stopped, said the man was frantic and he could hear a woman screaming as he spoke with the man.

“The man said that several cars had driven past him as he was trying to get help for his wife who had fallen,” Dalton said. “I could hear her screaming for help from the roadway, so I knew she must be in serious pain. Her husband told me that she also is dealing with having cancer.”

Dalton helped the older man back inside the home and found the woman lying on her side between her bed and the wall. After calling for an ambulance, he waited with the couple and noticed that the home was filled with cats.

“I knew that there was a strong odor of cat urine in the home, but it wasn’t until I had called the ambulance and had a minute to look around that I saw how many cats were inside the home,” he said. “My best guess is that there were at least 90 cats in the home. They were crawling in and out of a window and falling from a hole in the ceiling, they were just everywhere.”

Dalton went on to say that while the home had plenty of cat food in it, there was no food for the couple. He is doubtful that even if there was food for the couple that they would have been able to cook it anyway as the cats were crawling in the oven on the stove and were sitting all over the stove and refrigerator.

“It was shocking to see,” he said. “This couple had nothing. There was no furniture in the whole house except the bed and the place had no air conditioning. It was obvious that the couple was not taking care of themselves, but the cats somehow had food.”

The woman was transported to Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock, where hospital officials say that she has undergone surgery for a fractured hip and is listed in good condition. 

While the health concerns for the woman are being cared for right now, the issue of what to do with 90 cats was raised.

Major Andy Shock, public information officer for the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Department, said that while the situation is not ideal, they have no control over how many animals residents keep at their home.

“We don’t have any say on how many animals anyone has,” he said. “The only time that we would get involved is if the animals were being starved or neglected, which the deputy that responded to the scene saw no signs of.”

The deputy contacted the Adult Abuse hot line and spoke with a caseworker concerning the matter and Shock said that a representative with Adult Protective Services was scheduled to meet with couple and assess the home this week.

(Candie Beck is a staff writer and can be reached at 505-1238 or at candie.beck@thecabin.net)