Las Vegas hoarder probably not the world’s worst

Under the Las Vegas code, the maximum number of cats a home can contain is three, unless you have a cat fancier's permit.

Sun City Summerlin hoarder Kenneth Epstein's home contained nine dead cats and 33 lives ones.

Of the living ones, 19 had to be euthanized because they had upper respiratory infections. Eleven others are at the Lied Animal Shelter and are considered Epstein's property, city spokesman David Riggleman said. Animal Control officials haven't told him about the status of three other cats. Epstein will be able to retrieve three of the cats, more if he gets a cat fancier's permit.

Cat urine on the drywall caused health officials to decide Tuesday the drywall must be removed from the home, because it is now deemed uninhabitable.

No human feces have been found and one bathroom was found in usable condition.

Since last Friday, city and county officials have been at the Gold Bank Drive duplex, working with Epstein to discard the contaminated items and helping him salvage and decontaminate what can be salvaged. So far, two storage containers have been filled and is third is being filled with stuff he wants to keep.

"We're about 90 percent finished with cleaning out the house," Riggleman said Wednesday.

Epstein, who has been cooperative, became stressed Wednesday when it came to cleaning out the master bedroom and the second bedroom. The clean up has slowed, because he wants to keep his stuff. "We haven't seen that level of stress since the first day, when he briefly locked himself in his house," Riggleman said.

By Wednesday, 35 trucks of stuff had been removed from the home, each truck capable of carrying one ton each.

The neighbor in the duplex is seeing an influx of bugs since the work began and foul smells are wafting in. When a tent is put over the duplex and bug bombed, the neighbor will have to leave temporarily.

Since this began, the city has offered Epstein housing, but he prefers to sleep on his patio.

One sign of the decline of journalism is that it's been reported that this could be the worst hoarding situation in the world. That's sheer nonsense. Officials said, and I reported, it was the worst case of hoarding they'd seen in Las Vegas.

How could they possibly even know if it was the worst case in the world?