Monday, June 20, 2011

Pets freed from homes of hoarders

By Emily Anderson

Dogs barking at all hours of the night. Cats spilling out into the neighborhood anytime the front door opens. The stench of animal waste burning the nostrils of passersby.

That’s what many people think of when they imagine the home of an animal hoarder, a person who collects pets like baseball cards and often gets overwhelmed and can’t care for all of them.

The reality is, a hoarder’s house may look just like the home next door, Mesa County Animal Services Director Penny McCarty said. And with animal hoarding cases on the rise locally, a hoarder may just be in the home next door.

Animal Services has been involved in four animal hoarding investigations in the past 15 months. These have been the first cases McCarty can remember the agency handling since she began working for Animal Services eight years ago..." More

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