Officials Find More Cats After Woman’s Arrest

TARZANA — When DWP employees and police officers visited the home of Fleeta Kovanda on Tuesday about an unpaid bill, they were greeted with a familiar sight--15 more cats in her house.

Los Angeles police arrested the 74-year-old woman on April 29 for making terrorist threats. At that time, Animal Services officials impounded 45 cats, three dogs and a bird from her home in the 4000 block of Coldstream Terrace in Tarzana.

Kovanda was released on her own recognizance the next day while police investigate the terrorist threat charges and outstanding 1994 charges stemming from an alleged attempt to run over a neighbor with a car, said LAPD Det. Andrew Purdy.

The new cats were discovered at about 9 a.m. by Department of Water and Power employees and LAPD officers, who had gone to Kovanda’s house due to an outstanding bill of $900, said DWP spokeswoman Teva Miller.

Police were accompanying the DWP employees because earlier that morning, Kovanda had shown hostility to representatives of the utility, Miller said.

The situation was resolved peacefully when Kovanda made a payment of $700 and arranged to pay the balance later, Miller said.

When police discovered the cats, they called the Animal Services Department. Authorities are not certain if Kovanda obtained the cats after she was released or if the cats were hidden or outside the house when they investigated on April 29, said Peter Persic, a spokesman for the department.

Because conditions in the house “appeared to have improved in terms of general sanitation and the health of the cats,” Animal Services officers decided not to impound the animals, Persic said. Instead, they issued Kovanda a notice to comply with city laws that do not allow residents to own more than three cats and three dogs in one household without a permit, Persic said.

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Animal Services officers will return to Kovanda’s house in several days to check on the situation, he added. They will file charges and impound the cats if the problem continues.

Persic said floors that were covered with excrement on April 29 had been cleaned and that, unlike the 45 cats found that day, the new cats did not appear to be ill. Half of the animals were inside the house and the other half were in the backyard, in “fairly large” cages, he said.

“I wouldn’t say we’re overcrowded, but because we have a number of cats from the last bust taking up space at the animal shelter, it would be desirable” to find other homes for the cats without confiscating them, Persic said.

Persic said Animal Services officials are concerned that Kovanda may fall into the category of chronic animal collectors whose behavior cannot be modified by anything short of criminal conviction, but the department is doing all it can for now. In addition to the terrorism and assault charges, Kovanda is under investigation by Animal Services for suspected animal abuse and neglect.

“These cases are very difficult and time consuming. We have had cases in the past of clear collectors who were not convicted, and we couldn’t do anything,” he said.