animal hoarder has more dogs again!

Camp Cocker is devastated to read this article published today about an animal hoarder. The article paints the hoarder as a sympathetic woman who was a victim of animal control and "the system".

In July of 2009, 26 cocker spaniels were confiscated from her home, they had not enough food or water, they were covered in feces and urine and matts. Camp Cocker rescued 7 of them when the dogs first came into animal control, and eventually rescued an 8th one from another rescue group that had the dog. Camp Cocker volunteers were horrified by the conditions of the dogs. They were all emaciated, what should have been twenty to twenty-five pound dogs were as thin as eleven to fifteen pounds. Their hair was so long and matted and dirty, it took us five baths in five days just to get the odor out of them. Even at that point, they still had a lingering foul smell from the years of living in squalid conditions.

These dogs were obviously inbred, every single one of them had medical issues: cherry eyes, cataracts, hernias, lumps/growths, one needed an eye removed due to painful glaucom. To rehabilitate eight dogs medically cost more than $5400. But that was only the beginning.

Here are pictures of the dogs moments after arriving at animal control. These dogs had suffered through such horrific neglect at the hands of their "owner", that they were terrified of the world when we first rescued them. It took months upon months of daily working with them to begin to bring them out of their frightened shells. They had to be taught how to allow humans to touch them and pet them. They had to be taught how to walk on a leash. They had to be housetrained. From the starvation they had suffered at the hands of their former owner, they were taught that food was something they needed to fight for. We gave them each their own full sized dog run and we were feeding them canned food three times a day and leaving unlimited dry food out for them at all times. We had to work hard to get the weight back on them. They were so starved and they had never before known that there would be enough food to fill their tummies.

Here is a VIDEO that follows their story, if you fast forward to about ninety seconds in, you will see the beginning: Travis and the cockers rescued from animal hoarder. Because the woman was never arrested for animal hoarding, she is now currently collecting new dogs all over again (she admits to having seven in the article). If you feel as strongly about this woman as we do, please contact The Desert Sun and complain about the irresponsible reporting. Their reporter contacted us but did not report anything we said that would have made the owner look less than sympathetic. It is clear the story was skewed to play the hoarder as sympathetic. What about the animal neglect and suffering? The starving dogs who were at sixty percent of what would have been a normal weight? Who will be their advocate? Who will write a story to sympathize with the abuse they suffered through? And now this woman is starting up with more dogs to continue collecting. Who will be the voice to speak up for those seven dogs that are now in the hands of an animal abuser? You may also contact the Riverside County Department of Animal Control to complain that this hoarder is now collecting dogs again and no one is stopping her.

With as much hard work and effort and time we put into rescuing dogs out of dangerous situations, it is just devastating to see an article like this that attempts to turn a blind eye to animal abuse and paint an animal hoarder as some kind of victim. Our hearts are breaking at the thought of the future cockers we may have to rescue from this woman. Animal hoarding is a mental illness and this woman needs professional help, not more dogs. Please click on the share button below and pass this message on. If enough people complain to the newspaper and to animal control, perhaps something might be done this time around?