Show 7 Pet hoarding not out of the ordinary Paul Duggan Leef Smith The Washington Post Like people all over the country Gary a veterinarian who teaches at Tufts University in Boston heard the bizarre story of Ruth Knueven and her cats of them dead and most of the others so wild and sick that they had to be Knueven 82 charged with five J. J It r fi ti t- t i tT T 11 1 o r rr C C o 0 c i E cE N 1 3 it r V nH n H tA t A Fairfax County Va official posts a sign deeming the Mount Vernon home of Ruth Knueven center unfit for habitation last week n including animal cruelty became a public curiosity last week after Fairfax County Va officials hauled the cats and carcasses out of her home in Mount Vernon and her daughters daughter's daughters daughter's daughters daughter's daugh daugh- ter's townhouse in Burke Both residences residences residences resi resi- dences filthy and damaged were declared unfit for habitation until repairs are made In the Mount Vernon house authorities said they found cats squeezed into virtually virtually virtually vir vir- every open space of the ground floor floor in in the furniture the walls the masonry Unlike a lot of folks wasn't surprised to learn how many cats were found in the two homes either living or reposing in little coffins of Rubbermaid plastic Certainly something in the range would not make me go Oh my gosh said founder of the Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium a group of eight human behavior and animal animal animal ani ani- mal experts in the Boston area who have been studying the phenomenon nationwide nationwide nation nation- wide for the past few years interviewing interview interview- ing dozens of hoarders Its not unusual said of v Knueven's huge passel of felines I mean its it's on the high side But weve we've seen cases with over 1000 animals cats and dogs together In Del Mar Calif computer programmer program program- mer Alison Gianotto set up an animal- animal abuse database after someone tortured and killed her beloved cat But even with her diligent work she said it is difficult to accurately gauge the number of mistreatment cases Well never know how much of it is going on she said Using information from police animal rescue groups court records and other sources Gianotto lists cases of pets being criminally abused in the United States mostly since 2001 Of those involved hoarding interfering ing with authorities as they tried to gather her cats Michele Hart an investigator for the Washington Humane Society said she has dealt with about four cat hoarders in the city in rec recent recent nt years The smell was just overwhelming she said It wasn't cats thank good good- ness But Im I'm sure they're out there somewhere |