Investigators: Jail time in accused animal hoarder's future

In a special NBC2 investigation, we took you inside the disturbing world of animal hoarding.

Since the story aired Wednesday, we've learned the man investigators say is responsible for the gruesome conditions will serve jail time for animal cruelty.

The unthinkable conditions will send Charles Sharp to jail. Investigators say the animals they pulled from the Fort Myers Shores home in August were emaciated, dirty, and covered in ticks and fleas.

When Lee County Animal Service raided the home, Sharp – who lived there – said he wasn't responsible.

"My roommate lost his foot. He brought in all the dogs," Sharp said.

Adam Leath, with Lee County Animal Services, says that roommate, Bob Tracy, is a known animal hoarder. It was the second time they had confiscated animals from the address.

But when they made this raid, Tracy was hospitalized. Investigators said he had to have his foot amputated after the fifth that the pair was living in infected it.

"You can imagine walking around on that, having an open wound, so it was a sore on his foot that didn't heal," said Leath.

Since the animals were in Sharp's care, he was charged. Now there's a plea agreement on the table, which the State Attorney's Office can't discuss details of.

But Animal Services says it involves jail time and probation. Sharp will also be prohibited him from any contact with animals.

The home has since been condemned..." More & video

Special Report: Animal Hoarders

Special Report: Animal Hoarders

It's a hidden compulsion that's starting to get lots of attention.

Animal hoarding is described as a mental illness. Estimates from Tufts University show that up to a quarter million animals a year are victims.

"Unfortunately animals become part of the things these people collect," explained Adam Leath of Lee County Animal Services.

Never before seen pictures [slideshow below] show you how the animals, and their owners, were living.

"You can see there are numerous bags of feces that were pretty much put into any small hole or crevice within the property," Leath pointed out.

The pictures taken in each house show virtually the same thing - overflowing garbage and animal waste. As animals multiply the houses tumble into disrepair.

Video shows a home on Sanibel Island that had to be demolished.

"Once it permeates the drywall, past the sheet rock into the studs, it's really not able to be saved," said Leath.

To keep things from getting bad again Lee County Animal Control monitors former hoarders. We went along with them.

At one home, Leath notices food bowls on the driveway. "I do think that there were cats. I could smell some cats and there's some food bowls and water bowls inside the driveway."
While the homeowner tells Leath everything is fine, this is a home he'll check again.
The next stop is to Bob Tracey's home. He faces four felony counts for animal cruelty.
"When we went there in 2008 we removed 37 animals। In 2009 we removed 17," Leath told us..." More

Tim Trow - Toronto Humane Society

Jan 7, 2009: Is Toronto Humane Society president Tim Trow an animal hoarder?

Anita Robeson

On November 26, 2009, the Toronto Humane Society (THS) was raided by police and the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA), leading to the arrest of THS president Tim Trow.

Trow, along with four others, was charged with animal cruelty.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of animal suffering and neglect uncovered by the OSPCA, Trow denies it: "I've never been unkind to an animal in my life," he told the Toronto Star shortly after his arrest.

But a December 2, 2009, press release by the OSPCA tells a different story. It reads in part: "Internal records show that many animals admitted to the Toronto Humane Society die slow, painful deaths rather than being humanely euthanized according to the accepted standards of veterinary medicine ...."

Trow's mental fitness has also come under scrutiny, as ex-employees and past visitors to the THS share stories of his angry outbursts and irrational behavior. See "Tim Trow Strikes Again!" for an example.

Additionally, Trow seems to be suffering from animal hoarding syndrome.

Now, before you dismiss animal hoarding as something applicable only to "crazy cat ladies" and others of that ilk, consider this:

According to the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, "animal hoarding is a serious mental health issue" that involves acquiring more animals than a person or persons can care for. "Most hoarders do not feel that their actions are endangering the lives of the animals they keep, but rather that they are saving lives."..." More

Nov 28, 2009: A galvanizing tenure at the Toronto Human Society

In the ceiling of Toronto's 11 River St., a cat named Casper lay mummified, frozen in death and trapped in a cage meant to capture live animals.

This address is home to Canada's largest humane society, an organization whose mission it is "to promote the humane care and protection of all animals and to prevent cruelty and suffering."

But this same organization -- the Toronto Humane Society -- is currently under investigation for maltreatment of animals, and its controversial president, Tim Trow, was charged on Thursday with cruelty to animals, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and obstruction of a peace officer.

To be sure, Mr. Trow, whose tenure with the Toronto Humane Society stretches back to the 1980s, is a polarizing character.

He is described by some as a combative dictator whose limited approach to euthanasia has done more harm than good, causing the suffering of kittens like Betsy, whose eye ulcerations had become so bad that sores developed on her cornea. To others, Mr. Trow is a man with an unfair reputation, a volunteer committed to the well-being of all creatures, small and big, wild and domestic.

The heavy-set man in his early 60s is at the centre of an extensive investigation launched by the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which has described the animal shelter as a "house of horrors."

Two cats and two dogs have been euthanized since Thursday's raid on the shelter, while an inspection in June revealed a kitten with a fractured skull and a cat whose skin was peeling away due to liver disease...." More