Brenda Studer - Ohio

May 5, 2011: Horrific Hoarding: Woman Charged With Animal Cruelty

Prosecutors are calling it a terrible case of animal hoarding, that left dozens of dogs and cats stacked in crates--many without food or water.

52-year-old Brenda Studer of Richland County is charged with 14 counts of animal cruelty. In March, Richland County humane officers confiscated more than 80 dogs and cats from Studer's leased Bowman Street barn and shed.

Now the defense is questioning the validity of that search warrant. This, while many of the animals are still caught in limbo. Some of the dogs are blind. One had her front leg amputated. All are waiting.

Thursday, Municipal Judge Jerry Ault heard testimony from witnesses, including Mansfield veterinarian Melanie Hall, who treated one of Studer's puppies who was missing a front leg.

"The puppy was also missing part of its right ear, it had a fractured leg, it was a little underweight, and it was pretty much wrapped in duct tape from its leg halfway down its body," Hall said on the stand..." More & video

Mar 15, 2011: Woman Denies Hoarding Charge After 53 Dogs Taken

MANSFIELD, Ohio — More than 80 animals were being cared for on Tuesday after they were removed from a Richland County home.

Officials said Brenda Studer thought she was helping the dozens of animals in her care, 10TV's Glenn McEntyre reported.

Studer faces multiple charges, including resisting arrest and obstructing official business for allegedly trying to interfere with the search of her property.

She is expected to be charged with additional counts of animal cruelty this week, McEntyre reported.

Richland County Humane Agent Missy Houghton said it was one of the worst hoarding cases she has ever seen.

Fifty-three dogs and dozens of cats were removed. Some were housed in a barn and a shed, with up to four dogs sharing the same cage.

Officials found the cages so caked with animal waste and straw that Houghton said they had to be dug out. Dead rats littered the floors..." More & video

Arlington Police receive grant for a hoarding response team

by Brock Parker

Arlington Police have received the first-ever grant awarded by the state to a police department to address hoarding.

The state Department of Mental Health has awarded police and the Arlington Health and Human Services Department a $10,000 grant that will be used to support a hoarding response team.

Arlington Police said they have seen an increase in the number of residents suffering from compulsive hoarding and acquiring disorders, which increases the risk that they will become homeless or suffer a medical emergency.

The department’s Hoarding Response Team will include select police officers, along with the department’s mental health clinician and the Health and Human Services Department. Team members will be trained about how to work with people who hoard, and the clinician will provide follow-up with the residents to manage their cases to a conclusion..." More

Local Animal Shelter at Capacity

A downturn in the economy is negatively affecting the Rhinelander Animal Shelter.

The shelter is at capacity and says it can't even take in a stray at this point.

Jacqulyn Morrill works at the Shelter and says a few animal hoarding cases in the area have led to the high numbers.

"At this point, if we don't adopt some animals out we will contact some other shelters in Wisconsin to see if anybody has room to take them," Morrill says. "If they do not have room, we will have to face picking and choosing to euthanize. Which is really sad."

Morrill says it's easy to adopt an animal from the shelter..." More

Animal Hoarding Cases Concern Local Officers

Despite animal advocates’ fight for stronger laws against animal cruelty, animal control officers are concerned because they’re finding abuse and hoarding cases on a monthly basis.

Officers in Iredell County in particular told Channel 9 they struggle with hoarding cases.

Iredell County Animal Control Director Chris Royal said in one such case, officers found four dogs tied up outside a home and piles of garbage inside, along with a dead turtle and a pot-bellied pig.

“The pig had been living in the house for 10 years,” Royal said.

The pig later died, and one of the dogs was put down. The three other dogs are being boarded and cannot be adopted out while the case is being appealed.

Royal said the delay is adding up to thousands of dollars in taxpayer money. She estimates 15 percent of her cases are related to hoarding..." More

Animals seized in cruelty probe

By Edward Marshall

MARTINSBURG - More than 110 cats, dogs, exotic birds and an iguana were seized Wednesday as part of an ongoing animal cruelty investigation at a pet grooming and boarding business in Berkeley County.

A search warrant was executed by police and animal control officers at about 7:30 a.m. at Pooch Parlor Grooming & Rooming For Dogs & Cats located at 87 Van Clevesville Road. A sign outside the facility said it had been in existence since 1977.

An earlier investigation by Berkeley County Animal Control found multiple animals in or around feces and enclosed in structures that had a very potent smell of urine, according to a press release issued Wednesday night by Lt. W.A. Johnson.

Johnson stated that 115 animals were removed from the premises by animal control officers..." More

Tempe firefighters see hoarding trend

by Rebekah Zemansky

Firefighters in Tempe had no reason to suspect anything but a house fire, but when three of them walked up to the front door, an explosion hit them with a wall of flame. Two were injured, including a fire captain burned on his face and hands.

It turned out that rooms in the house were piled high with newspapers and household items that helped the fire spread quickly. An older couple who live in the home were hoarders - people who accumulate items and sometimes animals to the degree that they overwhelm their homes.

There have been five hoarding-related fires in Tempe in the past six months, and officials and first responders call that a symptom of a rising problem as Arizona's population ages..." More

34 pit bulls seized from breeder

CALGARY - The Calgary Humane Society has seized 34 dehydrated pit bulls believed to have been neglected by a breeder in the northeast.

Following a number of complaints from residents in the northeast neighbourhood concerned about the dogs' welfare, humane society and bylaw officers and police searched a house being used as a breeding facility late Friday.

What they found were inadequate living conditions and pit bull terriers, ranging in age from two months to five years old, suffering from severe dehydration and some with cuts and scarring from old wounds, said Desiree Arsenault, spokeswoman with the Calgary Humane Society.

"The animals were living in substandard conditions so the decision was made to remove them," she said..." More