More animal hoarding *sigh*

[momcat]

The woman has been living without utilities since 2005

I think there's a misunderstanding here. In Pam's original thread she says the woman hasn't had any utilities (electric, gas, phone, water, etc) since 2005. It appears that no warrant was ever issued.

Hoarding is a tough disorder to understand. While the person's intentions start out as good regarding animals, the situation often goes horribly wrong.
It may start with a stray or two then others soon follow. If even one male and one female aren't spay/neutered, kittens are inevitable. As they grow it leads to inbreeding. At the same time other strays or ferals join the gang, more kittens. Saddest of all is none are properly cared for because there are just too many and the person becomes overwhelmed and in way over their head. But somehow the person just can't do the right thing and rehome them to a better and safer situation.

In many situations, the hoarder doesn't have family or anyone to help keep an eye on things. Perhaps these people will say having so many animals eases the loneliness, at least in their minds. Other hoarders flat out refuse any help to change their unhealthy and unsanitary lifestyle and simply don't see the problem.

This is especially sad when animals have to needlessly suffer and die. I only wish I knew what the solution to this problem is.

[Taz_Zoee]

The homeowner, Virginia Wetzl, 65, had a warrant out for her arrest for failing to show up in court on animal cruelty charges back in 2005. Now, she's to be charged again with multiple counts of animal cruelty in this case.

This is a quote from the actual article. And it also says in the article that she hasn't had utilities since her arrest back in 2005. So I'm guessing she stopped her utilities in the hopes that they wouldn't know she was living there. Although that seems crazy to me.

Anyway, I really hope at least some of these animals are okay and find good homes. It's all so sad.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

I can understand this. It's so hard to say no to hungry eyes! It's hard to feed one or two but say no to other hungry ones who come to you for help. (where would any of my babies be if I had said no to them?)

The woman may not have had any friends or family and the cats became that for her. Not all of us are lucky enough to have family or friends close by.

[Medusa]

Not all of us are lucky enough to have family or friends close by.

How true a statement! I'm in that position myself. No family nearby and friends live not too close by and many travel for work, so I often wonder how long it would be before someone found me if anything happened to me.

As for the utilities being turned off, she may have done that to keep from being discovered or she may not have the money to pay the bill. I visited a woman who has 27 cats and she couldn't afford to get her AC fixed and her stove and oven didn't work and she couldn't afford to get that fixed either. The smell was pretty bad in that house this summer because she kept all the windows closed because she doesn't want all of her neighbors to know how many cats she has. She can't cook for herself because her stove and oven don't work so I'm not sure what she eats. The cats were all healthy and well taken care of but she was thin as a rail and getting up in years. This is why I say "people first". I don't mean that we should be selfish and take care only of ourselves and let our furkids have second best. But I do mean that if we're not paying our bills, our mortgage/rent, having necessary repairs done, causing problems w/in the family, isolating ourselves because we don't want people to know how many cats we have, allowing cats to destroy our home, etc., then clearly the cats are in control of our lives. Sad but totally unnecessary.