Elderly woman found living in squalid home

ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 29 (UPI) -- An elderly Florida woman was taken from her home where she was living with about 50 cats, 20 ducks, 15 turkeys and a dog, and her daughter arrested, police say.

Mary Phillips, 84, would pile some of the cats on her bed at night because there was no heat in her home near New Smyrna Beach, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported Saturday.

Phillips' daughter, Mary Bosket, 54, faces a charge of neglect of the elderly, sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said.

Phillips reportedly told deputies her daughter occasionally visited her to help care for the animals. Bosket was arrested after admitting she knew about the conditions in which her mother was living, Haught said.

When police and a worker from the state Department of Children and Families went to check on Phillips because state workers had been unable to contact her, officials found the woman living in squalid conditions, Haught said.

The woman, who suffers from congestive heart failure, was using a faulty oxygen machine. Also, the only toilet in the house wasn't working, and the sinks wouldn't drain. Animal feces covered the floors of nearly every room and the house smelled of cat urine, Haught said.