Eight-year struggle DELHI, New York––More than eight years of investigation and three years of litigation over the management of the former Angel’s Gate hospice in Delhi, New York, appeared to end with the dissolution of the charity on October 2, 2015 by Otsego County Court Judge John F. Lambert. The verdict may end one […]
New York Police Department eclipses ASPCA humane law enforcement stats in first full year on the beat
NEW YORK CITY––Rescues of New York City animals from cruelty and neglect and arrests of alleged offenders all soared in 2014, the first full year since the American SPCA began turning the lead role in humane law enforcement over to the New York Police Department. Impoundments of abused and neglected animals nearly tripled, from circa […]
Note to animal abusers: Big Brother is watching you!
WASHINGTON D.C.–– Federal Bureau of Investigation director James B. Comey on September 17, 2014 announced that the FBI will add cruelty to animals to the national Uniform Crime Report Program as a unique category of offense. Including crimes against animals in the Uniform Crime Report Program is unlikely to change broad understandings about the […]
Handling hoarders
by Vicky Crosetti Many years ago I attended a talk on animal hoarding at a humane conference. Trying to describe why we so often find huge numbers of animals kept in filth and misery by people who claim to love them, the presenter discussed “good intentions gone bad” and “obsessive/compulsive behavior.” I learned to use […]
Impoundments for alleged neglect fell in 2013
Reported impoundments of allegedly neglected animals by U.S. law enforcement agencies fell in 2013 across the spectrum of neglect situations, to caseloads not seen since the 1990s––but the reasons for the drop are unclear. More successful interventions to prevent mass neglect might be one explanation. Alternatively, lawsuits and social media bashing from no-kill militants might […]
U.S. Supreme Court recognized right to seize hoarded animals
WASHINGTON D.C., PHILADELPHIA–The U.S. Supreme Court in early December 2005 recognized the right of humane societies and animal control agencies to seize animals from alleged hoarders and charge convicted hoarders for their care, by refusing to hear the last appeal of Janet Jones, 55, of Hatfield, Pennsylvania. Jones founded a local animal rescue organization, Animal Orphans, in 1998, […]
Animals in bondage: the hoarding mind
by Merritt Clifton LYLES, Tenn.; ANAMOSA, Iowa; SALT LAKE CITY, Utah–Near Lyles, Tennessee, the shelterless Hickman County Humane Society just before Christmas 1998 seized 299 dogs, 38 horses, and various cats from an alleged puppy mill reportedly owned by one Patricia Adkisson. The site was littered, rescuers said, with the remains of dead dogs. On January 1, 1999, […]