St Agnes doctor Tatiana Woloszczuk banned from owning pets following animal mistreatment

A doctor has been banned indefinitely from keeping pets after the RSPCA found around 50 cats in her “uninhabitable” property. WARNING: graphic images.

Tatiana Woloszczuk leaves the Elizabeth Magistrates Court in December last year. Picture: Ben Cameron

A St Agnes doctor who once had around 50 cats at her “uninhabitable” property has been barred from owning pets indefinitely

Tatiana Woloszczuk, 61, appeared in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court on March 12 charged with several counts of the mistreatment of three cats.

She pleaded guilty to the ill treatment of a cat called Kira, which suffered from skin scalding due to a urine leakage and was “morbidly obese”.

She also failed to provide adequate living conditions for Kira, Mischief and Dion between May 8 and August 8, 2019.

On March 12, Magistrate Terence Forrest said the accused’s belief she loved pets and wanted to care for them in the future created an “obvious conundrum”.

“If you loved your pets why did you treat them like you did?” Mr Forrest asked Woloszczuk in the dock.

He said it was “too soon” after the offending for her to have more pets and she needed further time to deal with her recently diagnosed autism and other mental health concerns.

One of the cats the accused mistreated.

Kira suffered from skin scalding from a urine leakage. Picture: RSPCA

The court heard Woloszczuk was admitted to hospital in August, 2019 after suffering an “episode of mental health distress” and did not attend work in an emergency department.

Originally from the Czech Republic, Woloszczuk was a “public sector practitioner” for many years.

Following concerns from her colleagues, police conducted a welfare check and she was “certified under the Mental Health Act” and taken to hospital.

The agency then attended her property and found it to be in a “state of squalor”.

“It is obvious you had developed a hoarding illness,” Mr Forrest said.

He said the agency found rubbish piled up against walls, with one cat “visibly in poor condition and patently unwell”, while kitty litter trays were overflowing with faeces.

“It was uninhabitable by most standards,” he said.

After seven days at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, she was discharged and diagnosed with major depression, a hoarding disorder and alcohol issues.

However, she was stood down from her work later that month and her permission to work with children clearance was revoked.

Earlier, the court heard the RSPCA found nearly 50 cats at the property during an inspection in 2018.

The number of cats increased to a “significant” number after she took on two stray cats which had not been desexed, creating several litters.

Mr Forrest handed her a 12-month good behaviour bond and she will have to pay total costs of nearly $1000.

He took into account her “otherwise exemplary good character”, the unlikely chance of her reoffending and that a conviction would impede her want to return to work.

He also said she had provided “several decades of very valuable service to the community” as a doctor.

“The community would be much better benefited if you are able to return,” he said.