Yesterday we were informed of a hoarding situation in Danielson, CT. The home owner had been hospitalized, her home condemned, and upwards of 50 cats needed rescuing by Monday (today) when animal control would arrive. This is not the Danielson site we have been diligently rescuing at for the past 3 months. Believe it or not this is a second location! A location we know well because the woman who was arrested has been on a national DO NOT ADOPT list for many years, yet for some reason rescues around the country are still sending her animals. We have rescued 109 cats & kittens from our other Danielson site over the past 3 months and still have 10+ cats to go. We are beyond overwhelmed but still wanted to help this situation. So Kathie & I went there knowing all to well what wed find. The horror of walking into a hoarding house is something this short video clip cannot fully portray. The smell is overwhelming before you enter the home. Upon entering it engulfs you, permeating your skin, your hair, your clothes. Your breathing becomes labored because of the ammonia in the urine that saturates everything. Feces covers every square inch of the floors, often piling 12-18 high. This is the reality of hoarding and its hell on earth for the animals that live there. We were only able to save one cat today. He is the cat featured in the video. I named him SLATTERY because in order to save him we had to literally pry ceiling slats out from under him in order to finally net him. I stood on a mound of fossilized feces next to the remains of a dead cat for nearly an hour alongside a trapper named Jerry to save this cat. All I knew was that I couldnt leave without him. He was beautiful and sweet and he was looking into my eyes begging me to get him out of there. No matter what we did to him he never hissed or growled or tried to bite. He was terrified but he wanted to be saved. Tonight SLATTERY is safe at our shelter and tomorrow he will go to the vet to make sure hes okay. He somehow got a bloody nose during the trapping, but aside from being dehydrated and having slightly teary eyes he appears to be in good condition. Hopefully he wasnt there for very long, considering there was no fresh water for him to drink anywhere in the house and he was living in the basement with the remains of at least one dead cat. Other rescues were there saving the other cats which made us feel better knowing we could only save one. Hoarding is an illness. It is a severe form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The woman, whose name has been widely publicized in the media and across Facebook but shall remain nameless here, is not an evil person. She comes from a place of good intentions. She rescued animals that others didnt want because she wanted to save them. But over time the desire to save turned into an obsession and even though she could no longer provide a safe environment she was unable to stop. When local rescues refused to adopt to her she began pulling them from out of state. Things got out of hand. Her parents, who we met yesterday, tried to intervene. They called the police and reported their daughter and her living conditions. Apparently animal control visited the home last year and deemed it ok. Well, it wasnt okay. The conditions were deplorable. Unsanitary. But thats what NECOGG does. They turn a blind eye just as they have done at our other Danielson site for the past 3 years. Even though the neighbors were writing letters complaining of cats and kittens dying in their yards, the town of Danielson and NECOGG refused to help. So yes, the town is at fault here. But in addition we have to put some of the onus on our fellow rescues who did not do their due diligence when vetting a prospective adopter/foster. All anyone had to do was Google her name and the very first thing that pops up is a Do Not Adopt alert. Its as simple as that. But the majority of the blame goes to the town of Danielson and to NECOGG who runs animal control. They do not do the right thing by the animals in this town and for that the animals suffer horribly, often dying gruesome and prolonged deaths. Things have to change. Animal control should have shut this woman down a long time ago. Certainly last year when they visited her home. Situations like this one and our other site should not be left for small non-profit, volunteer-run organizations to fix. We dont have limitless funding. We have to beg and plead for donations and grant money just to keep our doors open. The Danielson rescue weve been working for the past 3 months will end up costing us $20,000 because of all the emergency vet bills. Were still $7,000 short. We have no idea where the money will come from but we have to believe it will come. Otherwise how would we go on? I would like to end by saying THANK YOU to the person responsible for finally shutting this woman down. I heard through the grape vine that he was a transporter delivering two cats for a New York rescue, and upon arrival he assessed the situation, put the two cats back in his car, and then called the police. This man, whoever he is, is a HERO. He did the right thing and because he did not turn a blind eye, tonight the cats (and that little dog) are safe. Later today when animal control arrives, hopefully there wont be any cats left in the home. But Im sure thats what animal control is hoping for too.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 05:55:07 +0000
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