City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, has launched a new crusade: cracking down on "animal hoarding". The anti-hoarding program is a joint effort that includes reps from the Health Department, the mayor's alliance for animals, the ASPCA and the Animal Control Center. Rescued animals are brought to center for medical treatment, spayed and neutered and put up for adoption. The program is funded through The Fund for Public Health and the Regina B. Frankenberg Foundation.
Since the program was launched last year, health and animal-protection workers have investigated 94 homes, said Allison Cardona, ASPCA chief hoarding prober.
The shocking discoveries include:
* 100 cats in one house on Staten Island.
* 70 cats in a Queens apartment.
* 30 dogs in a Bronx apartment.
* 26 poodles in a Brooklyn apartment.
Rescuers said the hoarders are not intentionally committing animal cruelty. Citizens are urged to report hoarders to 311 or the ASPCA at (212) 876-7700.
Comment: I spoke to a hoarder once. He called me from Columbia Presbyterian hospital. He got Cat Scratching Fever from feeding colony of feral cats. He needed a pet sitter to go to his house in New Jersey and feed his 50 cats and 9 dogs. I found someone to help him. The condition at his home were not deporable; it was tidy but he did not have any furniture and slept on a small bed. He couldn't have much more than that because the animals destroyed everything including his life. He was a notable lecturer that was one time financially sound but then he started to save pet lives and he got lost. I tried to help him place the cats but he just couldn't bare to give the animals away. I hope that programs like this can help people like him. Thumbs up to New York City, the greatest city in the world.
To learn more about Hoarding cases: here.
No comments:
Post a Comment