Some of the Worst Homes Overrun by Pets and Their Mentally Ill Owners

Everyone has seen those crazy stories on the evening news about wackos who overrun their home with more animals than is humanely possible. You have to be some sort of serious wacko to have over 40 cats in one house anyway. Some people are compulsive hoaders, others are just bad mommies and daddies to their little animals. Morbid curiosity leads Amog to look at some of the worst homes overrun by pets and their mentally ill owners..." More

Hoarders mentioned:
Patti “Cookie” Wheeler
Robert and Barbara Woodley
Stephen Andrew Moore
Philip Tamis and Cynthia Stewart
Paul and Pauline Harpin

New Law Gets Tough On Breeders

By Holly Zuluaga

Benton County Sheriff's Department seized 371 dogs from an alleged puppy mill back in May.

“Anytime there are stiffer punishments for people that are abusing animals then we're all for that,” Ed Dawson from the Benton-Franklin Humane Society said.

The new law in Washington not only limits the number of dogs you can own, it sets a standard care for dogs.

They must have enough time and space to exercise and be housed in proper sized cages.

“There's always going to be people out there that want to make a fast buck by breeding animals and some of those people are going to do it the right way and the humane way and there are those that aren't, so I don't know that law is going to deter those people, but where it helps is on the enforcement side,” Ed Dawson from the Benton-Franklin Humane Society said.

That's where it comes to people like Sheriff Larry Taylor.

He told me if a case like this one at Ella Stewart's home comes up again, his deputies are ready..." More & video

Kennewick woman faces animal cruelty charges

May, 14, 2009:  Breeder Faces Animal Cruelty Charges (but, dogs returned to breeder

KEPR TV:  Video & reports

KENNEWICK -- More than 200 white dogs with matted hair living in "deplorable conditions" remain at an east Kennewick home after their owner was charged with animal cruelty because Benton County doesn't have the resources to rescue them...

Ella Stewart, 66, has pleaded innocent to one charge of second-degree animal cruelty in Benton County District Court. She was released from jail without bail and is due back in court in June...

Stewart sells American Eskimos from the house through a company called Sun Valley Kennel, according to information found online and a sign posted on her door...

The conditions the dogs are living in are deplorable...Some are living in 2-by-2-foot cages and apple crates...

Others were found inside shopping carts with lumber and scrap metal placed on top, truck beds and air conditioning frames.

Some dogs were found sleeping on concrete, wooden floors with holes in them and some just on dirt, Lusignan said. The water bowls in most cages were green and covered in algae, he said.

"The dogs had matted hair and were living in pens containing their own feces and urine," he added.

The sheriff's office didn't seize the dogs because it doesn't have anywhere to take them or the resources to care for them, officials said.

"Benton County doesn't have a facility big enough, or the manpower designated to care for animals, in order to be able to provide these animals a safe harbor," Lusignan said. "Unfortunately, we have to leave them where they are."

County officials have investigated Stewart and the condition of the dogs and the property before.

Sheriff's deputies and the health department were looking into her operation in fall 2007.

At that time, she said she was trying to reduce the kennel's population on the two-acre property.

She said she was trying to find a good way to get rid of dogs that aren't breeding stock, but she didn't want to unload the animals on the Humane Society or have them killed.

She told the Herald then that the kennel was started in 1959, and she took it over in 1967.

Sun Valley Kennel was in place long before permits were required by the county, so it's been grandfathered in and doesn't need a special permit to operate, said planning officials.

Stewart said she's been working over several decades to develop the world's smallest Eskimo dog.

She said the kennel maintains bloodlines for the small dogs, which have to weigh less than 11 pounds to be considered a Sun Valley Eskimo.

"I'm taking care of the animals the best that I can," she said..."  More

Bolding & color added by blog editor