Volunteers Helping Woman Overcome Hoarding In Idaho Falls

There are people in the world who hoard things. They stuff their homes with debris, unable to throw away anything.

The Idaho Falls Fire Marshall ran into this exact situation early this year, and he has spent thousands of hours organizing volunteers to clean and gut the hoarder's house.

Ken Anderson was contacted by the Planning and Zoning Department about a homeowner who was breaking a lot of city ordinances. When he arrived at the home, he asked the homeowner if she could open the door.

"So, I asked her, I said, 'Can you open this door?'" said Anderson. "And she said 'no.' And I asked if it was because she couldn't or wouldn't." And she said, there's too much stuff behind the door."

Anderson then asked the 62-year-old woman how she got into her own house. "There was a small hole in the back door," said Anderson. "And you could see debris spilling out of the hole. And that's how she got into the house. She crawled through the hole and up the debris pile inside the home."

Anderson followed her, and found debris stacked wall to wall, five feet high. The Fire Marshall believed the house was a fire danger, and he posted it as uninhabitable. The homeowner was required to move out..." More & video

Year-End Study Names 2009's "Five Best States to be an Animal Abuser"

Animal Legal Defense Fund Releases Annual Report Ranking Animal Cruelty Laws Across the NationFor immediate release

Contact:Lisa Franzetta, Animal Legal Defense Fund

Stephan Otto, Animal Legal Defense Fund

SAN FRANCISCO – Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, and North Dakota are the five best states in the country to be an animal abuser, according to a new report released today by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF). Based on a detailed comparative analysis of more than 3,800 pages of statutes, tracking fourteen distinct categories of provisions, the report recognizes the states where animal law has real teeth, and calls out those like Kentucky – the single worst in the nation again this year for animal protection laws – where animal abusers get off easy. The annual report, the only one of its kind in the nation, ranks all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories for the general comprehensiveness and relative strength of their respective animal protection laws.

Why are these five states in the dog house when it comes to getting tough on animal abuse? The legislative weaknesses seen in the states at the bottom of the animal protection barrel include severely restricted or absent felony animal cruelty provisions, inadequate animal fighting provisions, and lack of restrictions on the future ownership of animals for those convicted of cruelty to animals. Many state laws have improved since ALDF’s last state rankings report was released in 2008; Arkansas, for example, was one of the worst five states last year, but jumped up to 25th overall in the country in 2009 due to a host of statutory improvements. On the other end of the spectrum, this year’s “best five for animals” list remains unchanged from the 2008 list, with California, Illinois, Maine, Michigan and Oregon demonstrating through their laws the strongest commitment to combating animal cruelty; Illinois was the very best of the best for the strength of its laws protecting animals...." More

Judge orders farmer to pay $34K in cattle case

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - An Ada County rancher who pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and failure to properly dispose of animal carcasses has been sentenced to 10 years of probation.

A judge on Tuesday also ordered 73-year-old Hermis Sparks to pay $34,128 in restitution to state agencies that investigated and cared for the animals seized from his property in January.

Sparks was charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty after a raid on his farm outside Boise, where officials seized more than 260 cattle and found more than 40 cow carcasses.

Sparks pleaded guilty to one count of animal cruelty and four counts of failure to properly dispose of animal carcasses as part of an agreement with Ada County prosecutors..."  Link

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Officials find 90 dead, dying and injured cats

By KIDK

LEWISVILLE, Idaho - Humane Society officials discovered a disturbing case of animal hoarding in Eastern Idaho.

Andi Elliot with Humane Society took several graphic pictures of dead, sick and injured cats in a filthy home. Elliott says there were about 90 cats inside the Lewisville home. Most need to be euthanized. Lewisville is about 20 miles north of Idaho Falls.

Elliot received permission from the homeowner, Wendy Barnes, to take the cats away. Barnes was also taken to the hospital for an evaluation.

"It's appalling," Elliot said. "When you go in there and actually pick up kittens and (they're) all dying in your hands it's hard to sleep."

No charges have been filed..."  More & photos