MARION COUNTY, FLORIDA - There are crazy cat ladies, and then there are the ones who border on insane, and Diana Darnaby is the latter. Last summer, animal services removed 102 kitties from Darnaby’s home located in Summerfield, Florida, and on Wednesday judge Thomas Thompson did cats everywhere a huge favor when he ruled that, under a local statute, she’s hereby forbidden from owning anymore felines, ever again. The herd was seized on July 29, and 60 had to be euthanized due to severe cases of worms, conjunctivitis, and upper-respiratory infections; the rest were taken to Marion County Animal Services, where they have all been vaccinated and given antibiotics.
Darnaby told the Ocala Star Banner that she did “the best she could” with the cats and spent just about “every second” taking care of them. “They are charging me with a felony for being a forced caregiver,” she said. “I’m just really appalled.” According to Darnaby, the county required her to keep the cats on her property, but officials say there’s no record of such a situation.
Darnaby represented herself in court, and she started off at a steep disadvantage — apparently, she’d faced two prior charges of cat hoarding. In 2009, 75 cats were removed from the Darnabys’ home, leaving one dog, four birds, and a kitten. She was convicted Thursday in a civil trial and forced to turn over nine more cats she’d accumulated just since July; a trial on criminal charges of animal cruelty lies ahead for her.
“The time for having way too many cats has passed in Marion County,” Thompson said during the hearing.