By Wendy E. Normandy
Chicago Tribune
OAK LAWN, Ill. — Oak Lawn police responding to an odor complaint were not prepared for what they found in a 68-year-old man’s apartment earlier this year.
Ninety-five turtles and tortoises of various sizes were crowded into a dozen or so plastic storage tubs half-filled with dirty water. There also were 20 newts, 12 salamanders and numerous other reptiles, plus as many as 100 dead turtles and the remains of an 18-inch-long alligator, police said.
Rescue workers knew immediately what they were dealing with: an animal hoarder.
Though not a new phenomenon, animal hoarding has only recently been officially recognized as a disorder. That has led police and animal experts to become more knowledgeable about the condition and how to deal with it.
Oak Lawn Deputy Police Chief Roger Pawlowski said officers try to tread carefully.
“We often try instead to get them to agree to relinquish the animals in lieu of being charged with animal cruelty,” he said. “If we can get the animals relocated to a shelter, it gives us more time to address the situation with the hoarder and, hopefully, convince them to get help.”
Some shelters, like the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge, have an emergency response plan when an animal hoarder is discovered. The non-profit organization calls on employees and volunteers to be ready on very short notice to donate their time for bathing, feeding and preparing clean quarters for the dozens and at times hundreds of animals in such cases.
The situation with the Oak Lawn man presented unusual challenges.
“We had to respond to this emergency differently than we do with rescued dogs or cats because we’re not normally prepared to take in that many reptiles at one time,” Animal Welfare League director Linda Estrada said. Employees and volunteers worked tirelessly to save the ailing creatures and she also had to contact a reptile specialist to treat some that came in with unknown diseases.
“From this hoarder alone, we took in over 130 live turtles and other reptiles that were in various stages of neglect,” she said. “Besides those that were ill, many were not properly fed. They were all in need of warming lights, which almost all reptiles need to survive while in captivity.”
Finding suitable homes for the reptiles was another problem.
Mental health experts recognize hoarding as a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The term “animal hoarding” has only been recognized for the last 10 years, stated a published report in the April issue of Clinical Psychology Review.
Another Oak Lawn case involved an elderly woman who had almost 40 cats living in deplorable conditions. The feces-covered home was declared uninhabitable by the village health inspector and it took Animal Welfare League workers more than 72 hours to trap and remove the animals, almost all in need of medical assistance.
Police learned the woman had no family members to take her in or help with the cleanup. The village relocated her to a safer living situation.
In Hickory Hills, a 49-year-old woman had collected and hoarded 37 cats and at least one bird before being arrested and charged with animal cruelty after she abandoned them -- locked inside her house -- in August 2007.
An ordinance officer, who was alerted by neighbors after the lawn and grounds became choked with weeds, knocked on the woman’s door several months after she was last seen at her residence. The officer noticed a foul odor coming from inside the house and called for backup because she feared there might have been a body inside, Hickory Hills Police Detective Mark Zvokel said at the time.
“What we found inside was horrible,” Zvokel said. “There were cat skulls and skeletons all over the house and the stench inside was unbearable. Among the cat remains and urine-soaked rugs and furniture, we found the body of a bird in a cage in the kitchen.” Her house was demolished.
The woman later pleaded guilty to the charges, was sentenced to 92 days in jail and two years’ probation in which she was not supposed to come into contact with animals, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said. But she was picked up during a recent traffic stop on a probation violation for not paying court fees, said Andy Conklin, a state’s attorney’s office spokesman.
Experts say counseling and close monitoring are needed with a hoarder to prevent recurrence. “The relapse rate can be near 100 percent. ... If allowed to relocate, they often start the collecting process all over again,” said Dr. Phil Heller, a Florida-based clinical and forensic psychologist who is an obsessive-compulsive disorder specialist.
As for how to detect hoarders, Estrada said she would like to see people become more aware of what goes on with their neighbors. “If they suspect that someone is having a problem with their pets, whether they suspect they are hoarding or not, it’s easy to make an anonymous call to authorities or the welfare league and bring it to someone’s attention,” she said.
Signs of a hoarder include window shades that are kept closed all day, excess newspapers and numerous bags of litter in garbage cans, and odors coming from the house or backyard. “All we’re asking people to do is make that initial phone call if they suspect any type of animal abuse,” Estrada said. “We’ll take it from there.”
Copyright 2009 Chicago Tribune