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Case ID: 19106
Classification: Hoarding
Animal: dog (non pit-bull)
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More dogs taken from home
Chesterton, IN (US)

Incident Date: Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012
County: Porter

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Donna Montoya

Porter County Animal Control officials seized 27 additional dogs from a Chesterton-area home Thursday, bringing the two-day total to approximately 82 animals.

Donna Montoya, 50, of 190 E. County Road 1400N in Westchester Township, could face multiple counts of cruelty to animals, Class A misdemeanors. Sgt. Larry LaFlower, public information officer with the Porter County Sheriff's Department, expects the Porter County Prosecutor's Office to have a report from animal control by next week, and charges could follow.

Three people suffered dog bites during the seizure Wednesday, when animal control and sheriff's department officers arrived with a search warrant outlining a lack of proper food or water for the dogs; a lack of vaccinations and diseased dogs; and dogs attacking each other.

Officials have said it's one of the worst apparent cases of animal hoarding they've seen.

"The bottom line is, it is a mental illness," said Mary Hodson, executive director of Mental Health America of Porter County, noting that, according to statistics from the International OCD Foundation, 5.6 percent of the world's population suffers from clinical hoarding.

Her agency, which links people to mental health resources in the community, has received 12 calls in the past three months from people who were concerned that a friend or loved one was engaging in hoarding.

When it comes to animal hoarding, Hodson said there is no intent of cruelty. "It's a public health and a community health issue."

Montoya, who named each of the dogs, said at the scene she knew she had too many dogs and had worked in the past with the Porter County Animal Shelter to get the number under control.

"With hoarding, it's usually not thoughtless acts of neglect and cruelty," said Kate Vanderlin, a manager at the shelter who's known Montoya since 2009.

Vanderlin has handled cases of cat hoarding in Porter County, but this is the only one she knows of in the county involving dogs.

"We just hope Donna gets the emotional support that she needs," she said. "Donna knows that she needed help. She signed (the dogs) over to the shelter. She chose 12 to post bond for."

All but one of those dogs are spayed or neutered, Vanderlin said, and Montoya would have to go through a hearing to determine if she could have the dogs back.

"We want to make sure this doesn't happen again," she said.

The younger dogs that are healthy might be able to be rehabilitated and adopted out, though the feral dogs, which haven't had contact with people, will most likely be euthanized because they can't be socialized, something Montoya understands, Vanderlin said.

"The younger ones have a chance," she said. "We have to do what's best for the animals and best for public safety."

References


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