HARTLAND — The Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley seized 16 cats Tuesday from the home of a Hartland woman who has drawn controversy over the number of cats she has.

The Humane Society seized the cats from Kim Jameson’s house, 515 Johnson St., during the search warrant undertaken by the Albert Lea Police Department after Jameson did not deliver all unlicensed cats to the city of Hartland, an appointed agent or a humane society within 10 days of Freeborn County Judge Ross Leuning’s Sept. 17 order for her to be limited to two licensed cats.

Albert Lea Public Safety Director J.D. Carlson said there were also three to six feral cats they were not able to retrieve during the search.

The warrant came after the city of Hartland took court action against Jameson, claiming she did not follow a June 2017 agreement by failing to keep her eight other cats indoors or in an enclosure. Jameson also allegedly continued attracting cats by leaving out food.

The city of Hartland has stated Jameson led an excess number of cats to the community by feeding them, which has caused an extraordinary amount of cat feces to be spread across a local park that children frequent, an accusation Jameson denied.

Carlson said they decided to execute the search warrant after the appeal process was over, noting Jameson told him she had more than two licensed cats. Hartland Fire Department assisted on scene.

Carlson said Jameson was relatively cooperative during the approximately 1 1/2-hour process.

“She wasn’t pleased, of course, that we were there,” he said.

Carlson said no charges are pending and he has not received feedback from the city of Hartland whether it plans to charge Jameson with violating the city ordinance.

In an interview with the Tribune Wednesday afternoon, Jameson said the people who helped execute the warrant “were very mean” and threatened to handcuff her if she did not calm down.

Jameson said 10 cats she has are emotional support animals and help her deal with mental health conditions of bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety and chronic pain syndrome. She said medicine helps with her mental health issues, but the cats help more.

Jameson said she felt “suicidal” after the cats were taken.

“We’re trying to get help from an attorney,” she said. “I don’t have money, so it has to be pro-bono help. It’s been impossible to get help.”

Jameson said the lives of her daughters have been affected, including one who has the same mental health diagnoses as her.

“The only crime I ever had was rescuing (the cats) and allowing them to be outside,” she said.

“I woke up today to an empty house, except for two feral cats.”

Jameson noted she has lost jobs since she learned she would lose her cats because of the anxiety it caused her.

She said she was told she has five days to license two cats and pay a fee to get them back, or they would be processed and put up for adoption.