Animal control officers have removed six cats from a home in Coaldale that neighbors say was contributing to a feral cat problem.

Coaldale Police and Humane Society enforcement officers got a warrant to search a home on the 100 block of Greenwood Street in the borough Tuesday.The home had been the subject of several complaints from neighbors — mostly concerning an odor of animal urine and droppings being left in their yards. One neighbor speculated that the house had dozens of cats inside.Schuylkill County Humane Society officer Mark Richards said that number was actually closer to one dozen. Richards said that the homeowner gave him access to the home Tuesday without asking for the warrant that had been issued.Inside, he said there were a total of 10 pets — eight cats and two dogs. The borough has an ordinance imposing a maximum of four pets per household. Richards said that the homeowner agreed to turn over six of the cats.“They were very cooperative,” Richards said. “They were out of compliance with the borough’s ordinance by having 10 pets inside the house.”The cats will be sent to Hillside SPCA in Pottsville to be put up for adoption.The borough already had some animals euthanized that were trapped in that area.Susan Asbury, who has been asking the borough to look at the problem for months, said she is happy the cats are gone.“I don’t care how they’re gone,” she said.Asbury said she believes that the homeowners removed some cats before investigators’ visit on Tuesday. She said that at one point this summer, she counted 30 cats outside the house.“We knew they were getting rid of the cats,” she said.Those sentiments are shared by her neighbor Branislav Brili, who said that animal odors are only the beginning of the problems that he faces from the house.“I’m a chemo patient; the smell is unbearable,” he said. “They have lived there so long, it doesn’t bother them, but it bothers everyone else.”Richards, who works all over Schuylkill County, said that the feral cat problem in Coaldale isn’t any worse than other municipalities around the area.“We’re the same; every borough has problems with cats,” he said.