WEST VALLEY CITY —A West Valley resident found a bag of dead cats in a field near her yard Friday morning, and city officials are investigating the incident.
Dave Moss, West Valley City Animal Services director, does not yet have an exact count, but said "several" cats were in the bag.
West Valley City Animal Services responded to resident Tamar Christensen's call and found the cats.
"We picked them up and brought them back to the shelter, and they had no identification on them and no microchips or anything like that," Moss said. "The area had recently been mowed, so I don’t know if the cats had been found and bagged up or what."
Christensen said in a Facebook post she had seen a small crew of men cutting the overgrown weeds a few days ago in the field where the bag was found.
"We don’t know if (the cats) were found alive by the person cutting the weeds at this point or if they found dead cats and bagged them up," Moss said.
Christensen said in her post she had smelled the "unmistakable stench of death" for the last couple days as she was working in her yard.
"Today I decided to find out where this odor was coming from," Christensen said in the post. "I wandered across the street ... and started looking in the tall grass and weeds next to the railroad tracks. Suddenly I got another whiff and this time the odor was so strong I began to gag."
"I knew whatever had died was very close as I covered my mouth and nose. That's when I saw it: a big black garbage bag tied off at the top and covered with flies trying to get inside."
Christensen then called animal control without opening the bag.
Moss said they are investigating the situation and anyone who has information should contact West Valley City Animal Services.