Buffalo, NY (WBEN) As Buffalo Police investigate a case of animal cruelty against 22 dogs and cats, the SPCA Serving Erie County says it can get overwhelming for some animal lovers to care for their pets.
Gina Lattuca of the SPCA Serving Erie County says when you are an animal lover, and that love for the animal kind of supersedes everything else, it can be very easy to get overwhelmed. "They can't part with them. Some of them can't even part with them in death. And because that love prevents them from seeing the reality of the situation, we see this happening time and time again. That they may be in over their heads. Maybe family members recognize it. Maybe friends recognize it. But it's very hard for them to recognize it or to listen to reason. They love the animal so much that it's impossible to part with it, even if it means they're sacrificing for themselves," says Lattuca.
When it comes to animal hoarding, Lattuca says it's a matter of quality, not quantity. "What hoarding really is-the definition of that-is having more animals than you can humanely care for. So, can you have 40 animals and not fill the definition of hoarding? Yes, because you may have 40 animals living in very clean conditions. All of them are healthy. All of them are cleaned up after all of them have food. You're able to care for them. So by definition, technically, that person with 40 animals is not a hoarder. Now switch this. Let's take a look at somebody who has four animals, and they cannot humanely care for them. They can't get them the veterinary care they need. They don't have the ability to clean up after them. That person, by definition, would be considered a hoarder," explains Lattuca.
Lattuca says the SPCA Serving Erie County has an outreach program to help those care for their pets when things get challenging. She adds there's a stigma about getting help that needs to be erased. "A lot of people think when they're in this situation, they're afraid to call us because they think right away that means animal cruelty charges. Right away now they're going to be blacklisted right away now they're going to be judged. But what we're doing is trying to help these people maybe thin out the crowd, so to speak, and try to help them get to a place where they can reasonably care for animals. It very rarely means animal cruelty charges. Very often, we're working with people, friends, family members to help them get rid of some of those animals, get some of those animals home. Let's get this to a number that you can reasonably care for.," says Lattuca.
Lattuca notes Tufts University had an animal hoarding consortium, and they spent years and they they had grants to really study the condition of animal hoarding. "What they realized was that it should be categorized as an addiction. There are people who are addicted to cigarettes, people who are addicted to alcohol. For whatever reason, there is an animal addiction for people, and they actually pinpointed the part of the brain that leads to an animal addiction, if you will, as opposed to alcohol or gambling or cigarettes or what have you. So, for people who are suffering from this type of addiction, again, it's very hard for them to see the reality of what they're doing because they're so addicted to keeping these animals and caring for them," says Lattuca.
52 year old Paule Montanez of Buffalo faces charges of failing to provide proper care for four dogs and 18 cats at her West Ferry home. She was arrested last week.
