| Thursday, September 02, 2010 | Search |  |
| Thursday, September 02, 2010 | Search | |
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 Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers and donors. Because of you, we were able to rescue 164 cats, 116 dogs and 31 birds from the Rochelle hoarding situation! Most of the dogs have now been placed into forever homes, though there are still some special needs dogs in foster homes. Thank you for all your support! We could not have done it without you!
Watch 6 minute Hoarding Video
To read a touching Volunteer's Story of his experiences with a dog from the hoarding situation, click here.
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!
October 13th Click here for updated PHOTOS!
It is just past midnight and I have finally returned home from our second day on the scene of one of this area's worst animal hoarding situations ever reported. TAILS was called in to assist with what we were originally told was approximately 150 dogs and 50 cats in a home in Lee County. I received the first call from the IL Department of Agriculture at about 6:00pm on Thursday. By Friday morning I had already enlisted the help of the TAILS staff and a number of volunteers waiting for permission to enter the property and begin removing the animals. We received that permission at about 2:30 Friday afternoon and by 5:00 we were onsite removing animals. We spent the next four hours at the residence removing approximately 70 cats and most of the small dogs living inside.
The smell was overpowering and it burned our eyes as soon as we walked inside. It's so hard to imagine how these poor creatures managed to live twenty four hours a day, seven days a week in this environment.
The basement cats had it the worst. What you can't easily see from the above photos is that these cats lived in almost perpetual darkness. Very small, grunge covered windows let in dim, dingy light during the day but it was pitch black at night. By the time we discovered these desperate cats, it was dark outside and, with no working lights in the basement and throughout most of the main floor of the house, these rescues were done entirely by flashlight. The two seperate basement rooms together housed approximately 30 cats who lived in "kitty towers". The litterpans were completely full of feces and the bottom of each tower contained at least 3-4 inches of feces, hair, urine and maggots. Lee County animal control wardens had been able to feed most of the upstairs and outside animals, but they were unable to reach these cats so we don't know how long it had been since they had eaten and been given anything other than filthy water to drink. They were obviously desperate, crying and reaching through the bars of the cage, begging to be rescued. Sadly, it was too late for two of these kitties. These poor souls died in this horrible place in the filth of their cages. One is pictured above on the right.
We are happy to report that all the rest are resting comfortably on soft bedding in nice, clean cages with plenty of food, water and a clean litterpan!
Many of the upstairs cats were free to roam throughout the filthy living room and kitchen. These guys probably had it the best. Most of the dogs however, were contained in metal pens with no food or water and nowhere to relieve themselves other than the 3 or 4 foot area they shared with other dogs. When we entered a back bedroom, we were horrified to see not only a total of approximately 20 additional dogs, but also cage upon cage of pet birds - parakeets, cockatiels, love birds and a canary - these birds are now being cared for at TAILS while we prepare them for adoption.
When we had filled all the carriers we had brought with us, we fed and watered everyone and assured them we'd be back. Then we took those we'd been able to save, to our temporary staging location in DeKalb so we could provide them with adequate care.
That all happened yesterday.
Today was a day filled with trips back and forth to the home and then the staging location, ferrying rescued animals to safety. When we left tonight, we had rescued 153 cats and 97 dogs from the house as well as approximately 30 birds.
We'll still need to go back and retreive a few giant breed dogs that were living outdoors and we'll do that tomorrow.
As I was working tonight in the staging location, alongside the TAILS staff and volunteers, I stopped at one point and realized that, even though we had almost 100 dogs in the building, not a single one was barking. Aside from the snores of those that were sleeping, the noises I heard all originated from people. I looked around and saw almost all of the dogs and many of the cats asleep on their blankets, bellies full.
For the first time in a very long time, these wonderful creatures were experiencing comfort - something most of us take for granted.
Thank you so much to the amazing volunteers who showed up to assist us. We'll need you for the next week to help us care for these animals until we can get them placed.
Special thanks to:
Ed Kling ~ for allowing us to use the staging location
Prairie View Animal Hospital Veterinarians and vet technicians
Theresa Laurence - for storage space at the airport
Dave Baker - of Sycamore Self Storage
Steve Milner ~ for all his advocacy, his donations and his amazing support
Doc Kresse and Lisa Fuhs from Virgil Veterinary Clinic~ for bringing their entire supply of Frontline Plus and Advantage and Revolution to the staging location so we could treat the flea infested animals, for treating 153 cats for internal parasites and upper respiratory, and for treating every dog with Frontline and Capstar for fleas. For spending MANY hours at the site and for hospitalizing three critically ill animals. For treating the fly bitten ears of outside and for so much more - THANK YOU!
Lee County Animal Control - wardens Nancy and Jack ~ for staying with us to the end
City of DeKalb
Petco Groomers ~ who spent hours with the animals bathing and cutting off mats to make them more comfortable. You made these animals feel SO much better!
PetSmart ~ to the Petsmart Groomers for working so hard to get the smell and mats cleaned off and for donations of food and other pet supplies, especially DeKalb store manager Dan Reints who rented a U-Haul and drove to regional PetSmart stores to pick up supplies then delivered them to us.
PetSmart Charities - for generous funding and supplies during this crisis. We appreciate your continued support.
Petco DeKalb - for expensive heartworm medicine for the dogs, toys, and offers to help in the future.
Petco Foundation ~ for donations of cat-related items.
Don Wacker ~ for the use of his trailer and for hours of help with pretty much everything
Sharon Burke & Tom Newquist ~ for the use of their trailer and for lots of help cleaning and walking dogs
George Balster ~ for the use of his trailer
The Humane Society of the United States - for medical supplies
Competitive Edge - for tee shirts Thanks also to the many volunteers who jumped in to help and to everyone who has come forward to support us financially. We really appreciate your support.
Beth Drake
Executive Director |
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