Confined to barren, muddy pens with no protection from the elements, no food, and no water, the nearly 70 dogs owned by Cajun Country "Ranch and Animal Rescue" in Wilburton, Oklahoma, were struggling to survive. Their skin was stretched tightly over their rib cages, and fleas and ticks had ravaged their bodies. The horses on the property fared no better, their bones clearly visible. The bones of dead dogs lay piled up like leaves, and more bones were scattered throughout the property.

When PETA received a tip-off, we alerted local officials, who told us that they shared our concerns. One of our contacts in the area was an expert on hoarding situations, and after he surveyed the property for us, he confirmed our fears about the "rescue." 

The next day, armed with a warrant, police raided the property and arrested the owners, Anne Marie and Shane Duhon. According to news reports when police entered the couple's home, they found three children living in squalor. Animal feces covered the house, including the children's beds, and cockroaches crawled across the littered floor. Reportedly, the children were covered with bites from fleas, ticks, and other insects. While the Department of Human Services took the children to a safe location, a multitude of volunteers, mobilized by PETA supporters in the area, came in with horse trailers and kennels and moved all the animals to awaiting reputable rescues and animal shelters.

Some of the animals were so far gone that they needed to be euthanized. At trial, the Duhons pleaded guilty to child neglect and cruelty-to-animals charges. They were put on probation for five years, banned from having any animals during that time, and told that if they violated the terms of their probation, they could face prison time.

While animal hoarding behavior stems from a desire to "save" animals, hoarders' mental illness causes them to keep amassing animals, and well-meaning people encourage hoarders by giving them animals and/or money. They end up with far more animals than they are capable of caring for—with disastrous, deadly consequences for their victims. If you suspect that a local "rescue" is actually a hoarder, alert animal control or PETA immediately. 

I recently attended an estate sale at a house that had belonged to a hoarder. 

I've been going to estate sales for years and have seen all manner of houses, but nothing could have prepared me for the chaos within this one. Boxes stuffed with papers, photographs, magazines, and old clothes were precariously stacked throughout the home, covering almost every single surface.

There were boxes on the beds, in the bathtubs, in the hallways, and on every piece of furniture. Many rooms had a small pathway amid the clutter, barely wide enough for one person to navigate. Frequently, someone would inadvertently send something crashing down. Some rooms were completely impassable.

Now imagine that those boxes were cages and crates stacked one on top of another, each containing a miserable, sick animal, and that the surfaces were covered not with clutter but with feces and urine. This is the reality when people hoard animals, often under the delusion that they're "saving" them—and the consequences are devastating.

PETA has investigated numerous animal-hoarding cases over the years and, time and again, has found animals warehoused in deplorable conditions. The investigators have seen cats kept in impossible-to-sanitize wooden sheds and dilapidated, moldy trailers that reeked of ammonia, their living areas strewn with vomit, trash, and waste. They've seen paralyzed animals forced to drag themselves around until they developed bloody ulcers. They've seen suffering animals deprived of veterinary care—including some plagued with seizures, diabetes, and wounds infected down to the bone. 

Hoarding "things" is bad enough. But when animals are involved, intervention is vital. A majority of animal-hoarding cases—at least 57 percent, according to one study—are brought to authorities' attention by concerned neighbors.

If you suspect that animals are being neglected or abused by their caretakers, even those who appear well intentioned, please be a "nosy neighbor" and alert authorities immediately. 

Update: On August 20, Carole Van Wie, the operator of Bunny Magic Wildlife & Rabbit Rescue, Inc., was charged with 13 counts of cruelty to animals. The charges follow an August 8 raid on the facility—prompted by a PETA complaint—in which law-enforcement officers seized 222 rabbits. Officials reportedly had to don masks to rescue the flea-infested and sick rabbits from up to 4 inches of feces and urine. Investigators apparently found one rabbit dead in a cage and others denied food or water. According to news sources, seven of the rabbits rescued that day could not be saved.

Originally posted August 8:

Welcome news! Today, many, many rabbits are being removed by Calvert County, Maryland, officials from what could be called a sham "sanctuary," Bunny Magic Wildlife & Rabbit Rescue, Inc., in Lusby. The seizure was prompted by evidence gathered by PETA of systemic—and sometimes fatal—neglect of animals at the "rescue," following a whistleblower's tip-off.

Many neglected rabbits’ nails were overgrown. Some caught on wire cage bottoms while others curled dangerously toward the animals’ sensitive feet.

Disgusting Filth, Disease, and Death

PETA submitted evidence and a detailed complaint to Calvert County Animal Control and State's Attorney Laura Martin's Office, which has opened a criminal investigation into Bunny Magic, run by President Carole Van Wie. We thank law enforcement for acting promptly and PETA Investigations & Rescue Fund donors for providing us with the resources needed to follow up on the whistleblower's tip.

PETA found that Bunny Magic consisted of little more than Van Wie's garage, which reeked of ammonia, and a dark shed that was overrun with rodents. It had no paid help to care for its more than 200 rabbits and other animals. Van Wie deprived rabbits of needed veterinary care and left contagious animals in contact with others, risking the spread of disease. Photographs show that Bunny Magic was little more than a hoarding facility, amassing far more animals than it could properly care for.

Dead rabbits crammed into a freezer

Scores of rabbits kept in cramped, stacked cages

Rabbits (who are fastidiously clean animals) were unable to avoid stepping in their own feces, which was allowed to accumulate for days

One neglected rabbit, Rockette, suffered with a severely twisted neck, struggling to stand up on her own; she was denied nursing and veterinary care and left to languish and defecate on herself until she finally died. Another rabbit, named George, who had a months-long respiratory infection that filled his throat with pus, was rescued from Bunny Magic before PETA met with officials but could not be saved. A veterinarian recommended that George be put out of his misery.

What You Can Do

The rabbits are being rescued only because a courageous whistleblower reported how horrified he or she was by Bunny Magic, reminding us that we should never be silent when animals are in trouble.

Please be sure, before adopting any animals, that you're ready to make a lifetime commitment to caring for them. Beware of hoarders pretending to operate so-called "no-kill" rescues or sanctuaries who promise to care for unwanted animals but instead will only subject them to prolonged suffering and a prolonged, miserable death. If you take an animal to a shelter, make sure it's operated responsibly.

Victories like this one are made possible in part through the generosity of PETA Investigations & Rescue Fund supporters. To learn more about this vital fund and how you can support the rescue of more animals, click here! 

In a huge victory for animals, Judge Greg Parker of Florida's 3rd Judicial Circuit has ordered that Caboodle Ranch not get back any of the animals who were seized following a PETA undercover investigation.  Just as importantly, Judge Parker ruled that Caboodle cannot possess or have custody of any live animals!

Evidence of Abuse

The ruling comes after three days of evidence presented by both the Madison County attorney and Caboodle's attorney. Judge Parker noted that Caboodle never adequately explained why it informed county officials that it had 400 animals when more than 600 were seized—fewer than 200 of whom had veterinary records. The judge observed that numerous lethargic animals, laboring to breathe, were found in desperate need of veterinary care in a deteriorated building among blood- and mucus-smeared windows; that there was a "noxious" odor; and that similarly sick animals were found across the property. In other words, the court described a reality at Caboodle starkly similar to that documented by PETA's investigator.

Judge Parker ruled that the evidence indicated "clearly and convincingly" that the animals were not receiving proper care and concluded that Caboodle "is not able and fit to have custody of the animals."

Hope for the Future

The animals—who have been cared for in a temporary shelter and finally given the veterinary care that they so desperately needed and the compassion that they always deserved, have been turned over to the custody of the Madison County Sheriff's Office (MCSO).

We want to thank the Madison County Animal Control Department, the MCSO, and the 3rd Judicial District of Florida State Attorney's Office for pursuing this case with the seriousness that it deserves. We're also grateful to the many humane agencies and responders who have labored tirelessly for months to care for these animals and give them a clean, safe place to stay. Let's hope that once they recover, they will find happiness with responsible families who will give them all the love and attention that they need and deserve.

Your Help Is Still Needed

Cruelty-to-animals charges based on PETA's evidence—including a felony count for the neglect of one cat, Lilly—are still pending against Caboodle founder and operator Craig Grant. Grant and Caboodle continue to ask the public for donations, including money to defend Grant against a felony charge of scheming to defraud those who already gave him money!

Please urge the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to end this by canceling Caboodle's registration to solicit contributions. 

Feces littered the floor and black mold covered the walls of a house that held 34 cats—many of them hungry, thirsty, and sick. Some animals were hunched over in tiny cages, covered with their own excrement. Even the beds of the humans who lived there had feces on them. Dogs and chickens were found outdoors without any food.

Sounds like something you might see on Confessions: Animal Hoarding, right? Surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly) this hellhole—raided a few days before Christmas by Harrison County, Indiana, animal control—billed itself as a no-kill animal shelter called "Frisky Felines Foundation."

Multiple similar cases have made headlines in just the past few months. In September, the SPCA of Upstate New York seized 68 animals from Peaceable Kingdom Animal Rescue, a no-kill facility. The animals were emaciated, dehydrated, and suffering from mange, eye infections, dental problems, diarrhea, and other health issues that appeared to have gone untreated.

PETA's investigation of Angel's Gate, Inc., a self-proclaimed animal "hospice and rehabilitation center" in Delhi, New York, revealed that paralyzed animals dragged themselves until they developed bleeding sores, animals were denied veterinary care (one dog suffered with an infected, rotten, broken jaw), crowded conditions were so stressful that fights erupted daily, and animals were kept in urine-soaked diapers for days at a time, resulting in urine scald. Angel's Gate promised unsuspecting people that "special needs animals" would "live out their days in peace, dignity and love." Although its founder and operator, Susan Marino, now faces charges of cruelty to animals and criminal possession of a controlled substance, hundreds of animals remain in her hands—a situation that you can help change.

This elderly, weak Chihuahua—given to Marino by an animal
shelter—suffered terribly without veterinary treatment for about two
weeks before dying.

The line between hoarders and no-kill facilities has always been a blurry one. After all, many no-kill animal shelters' modus operandi is to avoid euthanasia at all costs, even if it means caging animals for the rest of their miserable lives. But thankfully, awareness is growing about the many ways in which the no-kill philosophy promoted by Nathan Winograd and others fails animals. Writer Phyllis M. Daugherty explained the situation brilliantly in her recent Opposing Views column:

We all would love to see an end of the need to euthanize behaviorally and physically sound discarded pets, but there are just not enough homes to adopt them. Humane euthanasia to relieve shelter overcrowding cannot be stopped just because it is uncomfortable or unpopular without subjecting thousands of innocent animals to suffering in packed kennels plagued with disease and injury or death from attacks and fighting.

We must not allow them to be "rescued" by those who are unprepared for or unable to provide for all their needs. We also cannot, in the name of "No Kill" and in our rush to feel good about having them "leave the shelter," release them into the hands of someone who can sadistically watch them suffer and/or starve to death, often with food available on the premises.

How You Can Keep Animals Safe From Hoarders

The abundance of homeless animals in nearly every community makes it easy for hoarders masquerading as rescue facilities and sanctuaries to acquire their victims. Spaying or neutering even one dog or cat can prevent thousands of additional animals from being born only to end up homeless, hoarded, or worse. It's also crucial to support open-door animal shelters, which accept every animal in need and never keep animals stored away like surplus merchandise.

We may never know how more than a dozen pigeons, crows, seagulls, and other wild birds ended up crammed into filthy cages in a hoarder's home, but when PETA heard about the birds—who were spotted piled on the sidewalk after the hoarder was evicted—our Cruelty Investigations Department took action.

After PETA contacted animal control and alerted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to potential violations of the state cruelty statute and federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, all the birds—some of whom appeared to be sick and suffering from heat exhaustion—were seized, and officers launched an investigation.

Not only is it illegal to possess most wild birds without a permit issued by the USFWS, these animals were also victims of hoarding, a mental illness in which the hoarder compulsively acquires more animals than he or she can properly care for. Animals are often "warehoused" in filthy cages and carriers and denied clean water, adequate food, and veterinary care. Accumulated waste and filth often lead to infections and the spread of parasites and contagious diseases.

If you ever suspect someone may be an animal hoarder, immediately contact law-enforcement officials—following up if necessary to make sure that action is taken. PETA's report on hoarding contains more information about how to protect animals.

A horrific hoarding case in Chicago is a reminder of why, despite any ill-founded "good" intentions, hoarding never results in a happy home—for anyone. It's absolutely vital to report all known or suspected cases of animal neglect or hoarding to authorities immediately.

Police reportedly found a mentally disabled 14-year-old boy dead in a backyard, wearing only a T-shirt. Inside the house, they allegedly found more than 200 animals—and three more sick children—living in filth and feces. Reportedly, all 109 cats in the house were suffering from feline AIDS and leukemia and had to be euthanized, and many other animals were starving and diseased, including a cockatiel whose spine was visible on his nearly featherless back. The children reportedly had never been to school or a doctor and slept on the floor, and their bare feet were caked with feces and dirt. The children's mother has been charged with child abuse and cruelty to animals, among other crimes.

Hoarders exist in virtually every community, so it's crucial to be alert to the signs of hoarding:

• Hearing animals but rarely seeing them—or seeing many different animals (especially cats) in the windows
• Windows kept closed with the shades always drawn, to hide the hoard
• Flies on the inside of windows
• Strong, persistent odors of waste and decay
• Homes that look abandoned from the outside—unkempt and unlived in
• Homeowners who refuse to open the door to visitors, instead meeting people outside
• Dogs with bacterial infections, bite wounds, and skin conditions, such as mange
• Yards that are overgrown, hiding the home 

If you notice red flags of animal hoarding, please don't hesitate—call the police. Hundreds of lives—both animals' and humans'—may be at stake.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post