Auckland cat lady loses appeal against another 10-year animal ownership ban

Tatyana Kondratyeva at North Shore District Court in 2011. Her appeal to overturn a new 10-year ban to own animals has been dismissed in the High Court at Auckland. Photo / NZME

An Auckland woman who neglected her 50 cats and refused to seek help for 22 sick moggies has been denied an appeal to have three of the pets returned to her partner.

In 2014 Tatyana Kondratyeva was banned from owning animals after she was charged with failing to meet the physical and behavioural needs of the 50 cats.

The charges stemmed from a visit by SPCA inspectors to her Auckland home in 2010 where they said the "stench was indescribable".

Inside they were confronted by a swarm of flies and strong ammonia fumes, finding 19 cats with a number suffering from infections and other serious conditions associated with ill-treatment.

They found a further 23 cats imprisoned in the one-bedroom downstairs unit, which was littered with faeces and urine.

In 2018, despite the ban, Kondratyeva was caught owning and controlling almost 100 animals, and using aliases to convince neighbours and vets that she was a doting animal owner.

On August 7 that year, welfare animal inspector Kevin Plowright visited the Whangaripo property, where Kondratyeva and her partner lived, according to a High Court judgement delivered in March.

On arrival he noticed more than 30 roosters and chickens outside, three cats inside the house, 60 calves in the back paddock, and other animal feeding and housing supplies throughout the property.

Kondratyeva's partner told the inspector that the animals were his and he tended and owned all of them.

However, when asked about the three cats seen inside, Kondratyeva butted in saying, "There are no cats here".

A month later, the SPCA executed a search warrant at the property, finding dead birds, a possum that had been left in a cupboard and mummified rats and mice.

Injectable sedatives for animals were also found on the property.

In 2019 Kondratyeva was charged with breaching the order disqualifying her from owning animals.

In February last year, Judge Anna Fitzgibbon made an order that Kondratyeva give up her three cats, Ginger, Rizhik and Mercury, sentenced her to two years of intensive supervision, and restarted the 10-year disqualification period.

The ownership of a chook called Honey was also in question.

Later that year, Kondratyeva appealed the charge against the loss of rights to her pets and the further disqualification order.

She believed that Judge Fitzgibbon was wrong to make a further disqualification order and had no authority to do so.

Kondratyeva's lawyer, Devon Kemp, argued that the judge failed to consider relevant mitigating factors such as her culpability to control the animals, rather than owning and neglecting them.

Kemp also said that the judge failed to consider the views of her partner and his affidavit which stated he was the owner of the animals, paid for their upkeep and that they remained on his property.

However in her judgement dated March 14, Justice Ailsa Duffy dismissed the appeal against enforcing the surrender of Kondratyeva's three cats and the disqualification order imposed by Judge Fitzgibbon in the District Court.

"Ms Kondratyeva has shown no insight into her offending," Justice Duffy said in dismissing the appeal. "Nor is she remorseful. She disregarded the original disqualification order imposed by Judge Andrée Wiltens almost from the outset.

"She has sought to avoid the effect of the forfeiture order imposed by Judge Fitzgibbon through running an arid argument that she is not the owner of the seized animals.

"She has unlawfully and dishonestly sought to maintain ownership of and control over numerous animals."