More than 100 lifeless cats have reportedly been found in a freezer or buried in a backyard at a "house of horror" in southern France.

Sixty-seven feline corpses had been present in a chest freezer in a chalet subsequent to the house and on the identical grounds, it's believed.

An animal safety group, known as AEPA, stated it additionally found 38 cats - together with 12 kittens and one pregnant grownup - alive however in want of care, with some exhibiting indicators of typhus, which is very infectious and may be deadly.

"They lived in the dirt at this... house for several years, deprived of care," the group stated.

The organisation known as it a "house of horror" after making the invention on Tuesday in La Roquette-sur-Siagne, about 5 miles north of Cannes.

French broadcaster BFM reported one other 50 cats had been found buried within the backyard, whereas police detained a 66-year-old man on the handle earlier than releasing him on Wednesday.

France 3 Cote d-Azur added the person was additionally taken for a psychiatric evaluation.

AEPA had reportedly been investigating the location since December 2023, gathering data till it felt it had sufficient to tell police and search the grounds.

The group claimed it was already conscious of the house from earlier incidents in 2019, when 58 cats had been recovered, and 2021.

"We investigated, we noticed strong odours, a lot of meowing, so we called the police, who came to observe the same odours," it advised BFM.

"After two months, we obtained the search yesterday by the gendarmes."

The man reportedly stored a register of his cats, which he known as "his loves", in accordance with France 3.

A volunteer advised the outlet they initially discovered 15 cats who had been "all in a bad shape" and "eaten away by illness".

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"But when I opened the freezer in one of the chalets, we understood that it was much more serious," they added.

"When we took the cats out of the freezer, he didn't understand the problem, he said that he had given them eternal life."

AEPA says all surviving cats will should be sterilised and cared for till they are often put up for adoption.