Friday, September 3, 2010

Rescue Hoarding: A Personal Narrative

Rescue Hoarding: A Personal Narrative
Installment #1 - Aug 15, 2010

By: Jen Blood

Since starting my website just over a year ago, I've gotten a few inquiries from people who are - or at least think they are - working for, or involved with, rescue hoarders. For those unfamiliar with the term, rescue hoarding is the term given to individuals who take on more animals than they can reasonably care for, under the guise of rescuing these animals from homelessness, abuse, or euthanasia. It is becoming increasingly common for such people to organize themselves as non-profits, actively taking donations in order to bring in even more animals, who will ultimately be neglected and in all likelihood will never, ever be adopted out.

For a year and a half, I lived with an individual who was ultimately convicted of animal hoarding. It's an odd thing to try to describe to outsiders what our lives were like, as it's generally agreed that one would have to be a little nuts to live under such conditions. In order to try and put some of my experiences in perspective, I've decided to begin posting the story as it began and ultimately unfolded. I have no idea if this will be helpful to others or not, but it is my hope that individuals who either see the potential to become hoarders themselves, or who are concerned they may be working with a hoarder, may find information and support through my story.

For the next few months, I will post periodically of my experiences with Clean Slate Animal Rescue, which I co-founded in the spring of 2006. The experiences I had in the year and a half subsequent to founding the rescue are difficult to describe: my partner and I saved lives, worked constantly, traveled many miles. I learned more in that eighteen months than in my entire life prior to that time. During the final months that I spent with the rescue, I watched our hard work unravel as my partner continued to take in animals that I knew we could not care for and would never place. We lived in isolation; the health of the animals began to decline; no money was coming in, while plenty of it was going out. I began plotting my escape in the spring of 2007, whispering my plans to my family during late-night phone calls when I could get time away from my partner. In November of 2007, I left Kentucky with my two dogs and what few belongings I could bring along without arousing suspicion, telling my partner that I would be gone for two weeks. I had an apartment and a new job waiting for me in Maine..."
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Installment #2 - Aug 25, 2010

By: Jen Blood

"How does anyone live that way?" I asked my former partner once, when we were just starting out together.

He looked around thoughtfully. We were at Alice's - a woman who fostered for an established non-profit in Portland, Oregon. Alice lived in a modular home with an indeterminate number of dogs - so many, in fact, that the house seemed to literally be busting its seams. They tunneled under floorboards, had broken windows and busted through doors. On one side of the house, two mutts were trying to scrabble past a window boarded with cardboard and duct tape. It was almost impossible to hear over the barking. Off to the side of the muddy yard, there was a pile of half-empty, moldy dog food bags. I stepped over a dead rat the size of a small dog.

"You get inured," he said after a while. "It doesn't happen all at once. Gradually, things that seemed unacceptable before just become another part of your day."

I looked at him, and realized he was speaking from experience. I'd seen the way Dave lived before I moved in with him: filthy carpets, a yard overflowing with soiled dog blankets, animals kept in dirty crates with no opportunity to exercise or be outside. That, he assured me, was not his fault - his last rescue partner had "bailed out," he told me. She'd lock herself in her room and refuse to come out, throw fits if he asked her to help him with the animals, hurl things at him if he didn't make her meals or do her laundry. Dave was the victim; I was fixing things.

I moved in and cleaned the carpets. Washed the mountain of dirty clothes in the laundry room, and then began tackling the soiled blankets in the yard. Dogs that hadn't been exercised for a month or more slowly began being integrated into play groups. One dog, a pit bull named Cara, had been locked in a back bedroom alone for a month. She had sores all over her skin and would spring like a Jack-in-the-box, straight into the air, the moment anyone paid any attention to her. The room smelled of urine and feces, and there were maggots in the dog crate where she slept at night..."
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3 comments:

Dawn said...

Hi - I am very confused about a rescue that I have communicated with over a pet I wanted to adopt. The owner approved me & then rescinded(sp), & told me she was going with another adopter. Now I find the animal is still being posted for adoption by the rescue (Second Chance Pet Rescue, Coeur D'Alene, ID). I know there is something I am missing here. I think the owner may have decided to keep the dog - would an irreputable 501c3 do something like post a pet so they could claim they are still trying to adopt it out so they can get benefits for the costs & then turn down any applicants?

gia said...

Hi Dawn, there could be several reasons this happened (in my opinion). The most logical reasons I can think of are: the rescuer could have spoken "too soon" and possibly not consulted their partners/board of directors on your application; they simply could have changed their mind; the dog could have been adopted out and returned and your application was lost; they may have forgotten to update their site and take the dog off the available list.

Then there are possibly less professional reasons, just send them a nice e-mail letting them know you are still very interested in adopting. If you don't hear back from them, just move on. There is no shortage of animals in need of a good home.

Good luck!

gia said...

Hi Dawn, there could be several reasons this happened (in my opinion). The most logical reasons I can think of are: the rescuer could have spoken "too soon" and possibly not consulted their partners/board of directors on your application; they simply could have changed their mind; the dog could have been adopted out and returned and your application was lost; they may have forgotten to update their site and take the dog off the available list.

Then there are possibly less professional reasons, just send them a nice e-mail letting them know you are still very interested in adopting. If you don't hear back from them, just move on. There is no shortage of animals in need of a good home.

Good luck!