Animal control officer fired for inaction

Timothy Erin Olofson

GREELEY - Greeley police have fired an animal control officer who failed to respond to a complaint regarding an animal hoarding house in the city.

On July 31, police seized 102 animals - including dogs and cats - from a Greeley home.

They were acting on a tip. But a similar tip had come in on July 7 and police say the animal control officer who handled that call basically ignored the complaint.

Greeley police started an internal investigation following the seizure.

This week, Sgt. Joe Tymkowych, spokesperson for Greeley police, said the animal control officer was terminated.

Saying it's a personnel matter, Tymkowych did not release the officer's name..." More

August 6, 2009: Greeley Man Faces Nearly 200 Charges In Animal Abuse Case

Missing Pets May Have Been Found

WELD COUNTY, Colo. -- Greeley police have arrested a man accused of hoarding more than 100 animals -- dead and alive -- in his home.

Timothy Erin Olofson, 38, was arrested Thursday night for investigation of animal abuse and neglect.

Olofson is being held in the Weld County jail on 74 counts of failure to provide treatment in a humane manner, 62 counts of failing to inoculate dogs and cats and 62 counts of failing to license a dog or cat. All of the charges are unclassified misdemeanors. Each charge carries a

penalty of up to a $1,000 fine and/or one year in jail.

His bond was set at $5,000.

Greely police seized the 102 animals from Olofson's home, located at 403 26th Avenue Court, last Friday. Living in squalor were 52 cats, 10 dogs, two guinea pigs, eight rats and two rabbits. In his freezer were 28 dead animals, police said.

Several of the animals were taken to the Weld County Humane Society. Executive Director Elaine Hicks said most of the animals were in good health, except for a few cats with respiratory problems, an eye infection and one dog that looked emaciated..." More

Aug 3, 2009: Police knew about animal hoarding house a month ago

GREELEY - Police removed more than 100 animals from a Greeley home Friday, even though they knew about the illegal situation on July 7.

Dallas Staley, a real estate agent in Fort Collins, was trying to sell the house in question.

Early last month, she says her son went inside and discovered the deplorable conditions.

"The poop and everything was caked all over the carpets," Staley said.

Staley called Greeley police, but she says the officer came up with every reason not to take action.

"It didn't matter," she said. "He wasn't going to do anything."

Three weeks later, an appraiser saw the same conditions at the same house and did the same thing Staley did: He called police.

But this time, they acted.

They removed 52 cats, two rabbits, eight rats and two guinea pigs. They also found 28 dead cats in a freezer in the home.

Staley now questions what happened to both her tip and the animals.

"I wonder how many died in between there ... How many suffered between there, that's my concern," she said.

Greeley police acknowledge something might have gone wrong.

"We had the initial call on the 7th and it was apparently not followed up on as we would have preferred, given what's been said and we're still investigating that," Sgt. Joe Tymkowych said..." More & Video

Greeley Police Find 102 Live, Dead Animals In Home

"...There were 28 dead animals in a freezer and 57 live cats. Police also found rabbits, rats, 10 dogs and two guinea pigs..."

Animal hoarding called a psychological problem

by: Adam Chodak

GREELEY - The recent case of animal hoarding in Greeley highlights a practice that is often linked to psychological problems, according to animal welfare experts.

The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium (HARC), which is linked to Tufts University, has studied animal hoarding since 1997.

The group defines hoarding as the failure to provide proper care for more than the typical number of pets.

In the Greeley case, Timothy Erin Olofson, 38, was keeping more than 102 animals inside a small bungalow.

There were 52 cats, 10 dogs and mix of rabbits, rats and guinea pigs. Police removed the animals Friday.

Though startling, this type of hoarding isn't all that rare.

There are roughly 3,000 to 5,000 reported cases each year, according to HARC. In several cases more than 1,000 animals were seized.

Delving into the psychology behind the phenomenon, HARC concluded that hoarding often derives from a psychological problem developed during childhood..." More & video

Dog found in hoarding house reunites with family

by: Adam Chodak

GREELEY - Theresa Honesto had lost hope. It had been nearly five months since her dog, Omie, ran away from her Greeley home.

She says her 3-year-old daughter had let the American Shepard-Blue Heeler mix out. Omie wasn't wearing a collar.

At first, Honesto frequently checked in with the Humane Society of Weld County. Each time, she came away disappointed.

Eventually, she stopped looking.

But, then, over the weekend, she heard Greeley police had seized 102 animals from a small home in Greeley. The home sat just blocks away from hers.

Pulled from the home were dogs, cats, rabbits, rats and guinea pigs.

Tuesday, Honesto made yet another visit to the Humane Society, where many of the animals were taken.

She looked nervously through each fence and then, she saw Omie..." More & video

Animal hoarding: The crime based on faulty love

by John Davidson

Last Friday, Greeley police reported finding 102 animals in a house including 30 dead cats, 52 live ones and rabbits, rats, 10 dogs and two guinea pigs. No one was home at the time.

In late July, more than 400 animals were rescued from a suspected hoarding situation at a West Oahu, Hawaii, property.

Days later, authorities found 260 living and dead Chihuahuas in a garbage-strewn Dearborn, Mich. home.

Sound familiar? It should. According to the Englewood-based Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), nearly 250,000 animals are victims of animal hoarding each year.

HSUS says this abuse differs from other types of animal cruelty in that the perpetrators don’t always accept or recognize the cruelty they inflict on their animals. Rather, animal hoarders usually ardently believe they are saving or rescuing the animals they imprison.

In a recent article in the Detroit Free Press, Dale Bartlett, a spokesman for the society, said: “These people are driven to acquire animals … and quite often they believe in their hearts and souls that they are the only people who can care for a particular group of animals.”

In many instances, such as in the Dearborn case, conditions are often filthy and can lead to medical problems for the animals.

“They believe they are saving the animals’ lives when in fact when one animal is sick, they’re infecting the other animals,” Linda Lawrence, a veterinary social worker at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University, told the Free Press “It just does not connect that they are hurting them.”

Dr. Gerald Shiener, a Wayne State University psychiatrist, told the paper a condition often prevalent among hoarders is obsessive compulsive disorder, which is characterized by repetitive and ritualized thoughts and actions. He said it is a serious condition that can cause a person to lose social skills.

“These people lose a sense of what’s socially appropriate,” Shiener said. “No one would live surrounded by dogs and dog feces unless they had some sort of underlying problem.”

Treatment is difficult and has a low rate of success, the HSUS says on its website. Typically a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy and some type of psychopharmacological intervention is recommended..." More