Animal Collectors & Hoarders

[Mighty_Emperor]

Woman Who Had Raccoons Pleads No Contest


Dec 28, 5:07 PM (ET)

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (AP) - A woman accused of illegally keeping about 60 raccoons on her property has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor wildlife charge.

Tests showed that at least one raccoon had parvovirus, which can be fatal if untreated, and all had lesions on their paws from being confined to cages.

Patricia Hoffman-Butler, 47, who has said she is an animal rehabilitator, pleaded no contest to one count of illegal possession of wildlife on Dec. 13 in Berkeley County Magistrate Court. She was fined $20 and ordered to pay $153.50 in court costs.

Hoffman-Butler was originally charged Oct. 1 after a State Police trooper responding to a report of shots fired in the area saw the raccoons. She does not have a state permit to possess wildlife, the Division of Natural Resources has said.

The DNR raided Hoffman-Butler's property in late October and seized and euthanized all the raccoons. Conservation officers believed the animals were a potential health threat to other wildlife, Curtis Taylor, the DNR's wildlife resources chief, said.

"We did what we had to do," Taylor said.

The carcasses were sent to the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study Group at the University of Georgia for testing. The tests also showed about half the animals had intestinal nematodes, a type of roundworm, and some had gross lesions on their paws, likely caused by rubbing them on the cages' surfaces, which contained feces and urine.

None of the animals tested positive for rabies.

The charge against Hoffman-Butler was dismissed in November after a conservation officer failed to appear for a bench trial because he hadn't been notified of the proceeding. The charge was refiled Dec. 6.

---

Information from: The Journal, http://journal-news.net/

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051228/D8EPGPFO4.html

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Workers Take 227 Animals From Calif. Home

May 11 11:01 PM US/Eastern


HESPERIA, Calif.

Workers wearing gas masks removed 227 animals that were in "deplorable" condition from a home that reeked of urine, authorities said.

The final tally included 98 guinea pigs, 84 cats, 27 dogs, 14 rabbits, 3 potbellied pigs and 1 bird, Code Compliance Supervisor Tony Genovesi said Wednesday.

Two of the pigs had such severely injured hooves that they had turned them in and were walking on a higher point on their legs, officials said.

"I'm surprised they're not all sick with upper respiratory infections because they're breathing straight ammonia," said Susan Bradley, a kennel technician with the animal control department.

Hesperia homeowners are allowed to keep six cats, six dogs and 65 cage animals, Genovesi said. All of the animals were removed from the home because of the bad health conditions, he said.

The residents will get back the ones they're allowed to own once the home is fit for their habitation, he said.

It was unclear why the residents kept so many animals.

A person at the home declined to comment to the Victorville Daily Press.

Officials said they learned of the conditions at the home on Friday, when they served an unrelated warrant on a residence across the street.

Authorities previously visited the home in August 2004 and removed dozens of animals, Genovesi said.

___

Information from: Daily Press, http://www.vvdailypress.com

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/11/D8HHVL9O0.html

 

[tastyintestines]

Funny coincidence cause a couple days ago I was thinking about how there hadn't been any of these reports for awhile. I heard a couple other accounts on the radio tonight. I'll dig em up, if I can find em.

 

[Zilch5]

Crazy cat ladies: Why always cats? Why always ladies?
.
Diane Mapes writes: We’ve all heard the stories of people keeping outrageous numbers of animals. The Today Show ran a segment on the topic just last week, to coincide with the premiere of Animal Planet’s new show, “Confessions: Animal Hoarders”.

But why is it so many of these tales seem to involve women and cats?
[...]

Is there something that makes women more prone to animal hoarding than men?

“According to a 2002 study, 75 percent or more of animal hoarders are women who are middle age or older, usually unmarried and often socially isolated from family and friends,” says Dr. Christiana Bratiotis, project director of the Hoarding Research Project at Boston University’s School of Social Work.

One reason women may hoard animals more often is because we’re biologically hardwired to take care of things.

“Animal hoarders label themselves as rescuers,” she says. “And when you think about the connotation of that word, that seems to fit in with the gender role of women in this society. We’re rescuers and caregivers and care providers.”

While it may be difficult to reconcile care-giving with horror stories of homes littered with animal feces and/or dead carcasses, Bratiotis says people who hoard animals really do believe they’re caring for the creatures.

“Because of their mental illness, they have a very distorted belief that they are the person best suited to provide care for the animals,” she says. “They’re reluctant to place their animals in another person’s care, despite the fact they’re not well-fed or getting adequate veterinary care. They believe they’re doing well by the animals.”

While it seems that cats somehow are the hoarders' pet of choice, that's simply because there's such a prevalance of felines says Bratiotis. After cats, people also hoard dogs, birds, horses, sheep, goats, rabbits, rodents and reptiles.
While the exact line where a loving cat owner starts to collect them and edge into hoarding country can be hard to pinpoint, Bratiotis points to the criteria experts use to define animal hoarding.

If the cats are not well-fed, not getting adequate veterinary care, don’t have enough space and are regularly making too much of a mess for you to clean up, you’ve got too many, she says, whether that number is six, 16 or (gulp) 60.

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010 ... ys-ladies-

 

[Yithian]

'Crazy cat ladies' are not a thing, study finds
By Rob Picheta, CNN
Updated 1516 GMT (2316 HKT) August 21, 2019

It's the news cat owners have been waiting for: Owning lots of cats does not, in fact, mean you're mad, sad or anxious.

That's according to researchers at UCLA, who analyzed more than 500 pet owners and found nothing to support the long-held "crazy cat lady" stereotype.

The study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, observed how people reacted to distress calls from animals and also compared pet ownership with mental health-related or social difficulties.

Its results will come as a relief to those people who, absurdly, prefer cats to dogs -- and should give those who cling to the popular "cat lady" trope paws for thought.

"We found no evidence to support the 'cat lady' stereotype: cat-owners did not differ from others on self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety or their experiences in close relationships," the study said.

"Our findings, therefore, do not fit with the notion of cat-owners as more depressed, anxious or alone."

Full Story:
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/21/health/crazy-cat-lady-study-scli-intl/index.html

 

[ramonmercado]

'Crazy cat ladies' are not a thing, study finds
By Rob Picheta, CNN
Updated 1516 GMT (2316 HKT) August 21, 2019

It's the news cat owners have been waiting for: Owning lots of cats does not, in fact, mean you're mad, sad or anxious.

That's according to researchers at UCLA, who analyzed more than 500 pet owners and found nothing to support the long-held "crazy cat lady" stereotype.

The study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, observed how people reacted to distress calls from animals and also compared pet ownership with mental health-related or social difficulties.

Its results will come as a relief to those people who, absurdly, prefer cats to dogs -- and should give those who cling to the popular "cat lady" trope paws for thought.

"We found no evidence to support the 'cat lady' stereotype: cat-owners did not differ from others on self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety or their experiences in close relationships," the study said.

"Our findings, therefore, do not fit with the notion of cat-owners as more depressed, anxious or alone."

Full Story:
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/21/health/crazy-cat-lady-study-scli-intl/index.html

'Crazy cat ladies' are not a thing, study finds
By Rob Picheta, CNN
Updated 1516 GMT (2316 HKT) August 21, 2019

It's the news cat owners have been waiting for: Owning lots of cats does not, in fact, mean you're mad, sad or anxious.

That's according to researchers at UCLA, who analyzed more than 500 pet owners and found nothing to support the long-held "crazy cat lady" stereotype.

The study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, observed how people reacted to distress calls from animals and also compared pet ownership with mental health-related or social difficulties.

Its results will come as a relief to those people who, absurdly, prefer cats to dogs -- and should give those who cling to the popular "cat lady" trope paws for thought.

"We found no evidence to support the 'cat lady' stereotype: cat-owners did not differ from others on self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety or their experiences in close relationships," the study said.

"Our findings, therefore, do not fit with the notion of cat-owners as more depressed, anxious or alone."

Full Story:
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/21/health/crazy-cat-lady-study-scli-intl/index.html

 

[EnolaGaia]

The good news: Animal shelters in southeastern Michigan will soon have circa 500 parakeets to offer for adoption.
The bad news: In the mean time, the shelters have to deal with evaluating all these parakeets accumulated by a hoarder.

Son of animal hoarder drops off nearly 500 parakeets at animal shelter before Christmas

The son of an animal hoarder dropped off nearly 500 parakeets to a southeast Michigan rescue shelter shortly before Christmas, and plans to return later with at least 50 more birds.

Kelley LeBonty, director of the Detroit Animal Welfare Group, which operates a shelter on a 25-acre farm in Macomb County's Bruce Township, said in an interview Saturday that the son called to say he was coming to surrender 60 to 80 parakeets that were at his father's house.

But when the son arrived at the shelter late Thursday night, he actually had 497 parakeets in his pickup.

"He had them all in seven cages," LeBonty said. “A very tight fit. They were kind of on top of each other and smothering each other. ... "

The son said his father kept the birds in the cages in one room of his house, and had been spending $1,200 a month to feed the birds ...

"His son said that he just wanted to breed a few of them, and it got out of control," LeBonty said. ...

Another Romeo-area animal rescue group took about 220 of the parakeets, she said, and other groups are coming Sunday to take in more. The parakeets' health will be monitored for two to four weeks before they are eligible for adoption. ...

FULL STORY: https://news.yahoo.com/son-animal-hoarder-drops-off-232146949.html