Case Details

22 dogs, 20 cats seized from filthy home
Azle, TX (US)

Date: Jul 7, 2006
Local Map: available
Disposition: Alleged
Case Images: 1 files available

Alleged: Delores Marie Knight

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Case ID: 9244
Classification: Hoarding
Animal: dog (non pit-bull), cat
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Suspect was in animal welfare field
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When Pelican Bay police went to the home of the city's animal control officer, they were looking for paperwork on dogs she had seized.

What authorities found instead were filthy conditions, more than 40 dogs and cats and a puzzling set of circumstances that, days later, they are only beginning to unravel, police say.

Delores Knight, who has been an animal control and code enforcement officer in the tiny northwest Tarrant County town since October 2002, was charged on July 7 with possession of a controlled substance and theft by a public servant. She was released on bond that Friday.

The charges, both felonies, came after police found animal medications belonging to the city in her home, including those used to euthanize dogs. The 40-plus animals were seized.

Neighbors say that Knight, 65, was a kindhearted woman who was quick to take in any stray. But investigators say the information they've discovered raises questions about her motives.

Besides allegations that she seized animals and refused to return them, residents have also told police that she sold animals and that they purchased veterinary drugs from her, Police Chief Eddie Frankum said.

"We're not happy we're having to do this type of investigation," Frankum said.

Knight has since been suspended, and the City Council will decide whether to fire her at its next meeting Tuesday, Frankum said. Pelican Bay Mayor Tom Reed did not return calls seeking comment.

Efforts to reach Knight were unsuccessful. No one answered the door at her brick home Saturday afternoon.

On the half-mile stretch of rural Parker County road where Knight and her husband live, her arrest Thursday morning came as a shock, some neighbors said.

Halina Maharaj said Knight was well-known for taking in the stray dogs and cats that are often dumped in the neighborhood. She never said no, no matter what condition the animal was in, and her love of animals was apparent, she said.

"She was the last resort for these animals," Maharaj said.

City officials became suspicious of Knight a few weeks ago, when a woman came to them complaining that Knight refused to return her seized cocker spaniel, police said. The woman said Knight sold the dog one day after it was seized because of a licensing problem, violating a city law that calls for the animal to be kept for 72 hours, police said.

After Knight repeatedly refused to surrender her records, officials said, police went to her home Thursday morning with a search warrant.

They said many of the animals they found were sick and covered with fleas and ticks; at least one cat was paralyzed, and another was dying.

Frankum said it appeared that Knight was trying to treat some of the pets' ailments but didn't have the skill required to help them.

He said he has since learned that Knight was fired from an animal control position at the Azle Animal Shelter before she came to work for Pelican Bay and that she often didn't follow Pelican Bay's procedures. Frankum said the department is investigating why the city did not know about Knight's previous termination.

Though Knight's records are difficult to decipher, discrepancies are obvious, Frankum said.

Knight reported at least 100 animals seized from pet owners or picked up as strays since November. In that time, only two have been adopted out, according to Knight's records.

Frankum said he's not sure where all the animals ended up, but he heard from some residents who say she sold pets more than once from a Wal-Mart parking lot. Allegations that she sold the city's veterinary drugs to pet owners could lead to even more criminal charges, he said.

"Basically if someone had lost an animal, instead of putting them in the shelter where the owner could come by and pick them up, they were immediately taken someplace else. If the owner had come by, they weren't there," Frankum said.

Since Knight's arrest, police have been encouraging those who've had an animal seized or picked up by Knight to contact them. As of Friday, no reunions had happened.

Karen Kessler, animal control officer for Parker County, said Knight's case is not the first in which she's seen someone collect a horde of animals and be unable to care for them. She acknowledges, however, that finding someone with Knight's job title in that situation is unusual.

Kessler said Knight claimed that eight of the 22 dogs and four of the 20 cats seized and taken to the Weatherford/Parker County Animal Shelter on Thursday are her personal pets.

A justice of the peace will decide this month whether she gets to keep those animals. After that hearing, the county could file misdemeanor animal neglect charges against her, Kessler said.

"People that are collectors like that, they always start out thinking they are doing the right thing, and they just get overwhelmed," Kessler said. "Then, cleaning daily becomes cleaning monthly, and cleaning monthly becomes not at all."

Police seek information

Anyone who thinks their animal may have been improperly seized in Pelican Bay is asked to call police at 817-444-1234. The animals seized from Delores Knight's home are being kept at the Weatherford/Parker County Animal Shelter. The shelter's phone number is 817-598-4111.

Case Updates

Weatherford has 22 extra dogs and a few cats that will soon be ready for new homes.

We know where they came from: rural Pelican Bay, where the town code enforcement and animal-control officer is facing charges after an investigation by police who say the animal shelter got out of control.

But we don't know what has happened to Birdie, the stray beagle.

Or Shorty, the little red dachshund.

Or Gibson, the sweet Saint Bernard who hobbles on three legs.

In photos on the Web, they're all looking for new homes, staring out from a page called Pet Lady Rescue that offers animals from the Pelican Bay shelter.

We don't know exactly what's happened to those dogs. But we do know that lost and stray animals picked up in Pelican Bay now have genuine shelter in Weatherford. The Weatherford/Parker County Animal Shelter will put them up for adoption this week. The dogs and cats were seized Thursday from the home of Pelican Bay animal-control officer Delores Knight.

Knight, 65, has been the town code-enforcement and animal-control officer for four years in Pelican Bay, a gritty lakefront village north of Azle. She also operates a "no-kill" center from her home in rural Parker County.

I hesitate to say "no-kill shelter" because police and deputies say her home wouldn't qualify as a shelter. It was filthy, and many of the animals were covered in fleas and ticks, law officers said.

Knight is free on $6,000 bail. She faces charges involving missing city property and animal medications. Parker County officials must await a court hearing before they decide whether to accuse her of animal neglect.

But to Don Feare, an Arlington animal-welfare attorney, somebody with 40 dogs and cats is probably at least a misguided "animal collector" -- also called a hoarder.

"Animal collectors are people with good hearts and bad minds," he said Monday by phone.

"They want to save as many animals as possible. Before long, they can't care for them all. Conditions get deplorable. By then, you haven't saved the animals. You've got them living in a world of hell."

Knight's Web page offers two cats and 14 dogs for adoption. The Pelican Bay animal-control phone number and Knight's other numbers and e-mail addresses are also listed on other sites promoting "no-kill shelters."

"There is no such thing as a no-kill shelter," Feare said. "The only way a shelter can work that way financially is to select only a few animals and adopt them quickly."

Carrollton's popular Operation Kindness shelter is a rare exception, he said, and only because it carefully chooses adoptable animals.

In a 2004 study by Boston psychologists, about half of animal hoarders were found to be women 60 years old or older.

But the study did not mention hoarders who were also animal-control officers.

"It's a surprise," said Keane Menefee of Fort Worth, president of the Texas Animal Control Association. "But then again, it's not, considering the emotions that we deal with every day -- the caring and killing.

"We try to find homes for all the animals. We all wish we could. But we can't. I can see how somebody who really cares deeply, and carries out both duties, might go overboard. But you haven't done the animals a favor if you have 40, 50, 60, 70 animals. You can't take care of that many."

A Springtown woman who asked Knight to help her adopt out a dog defended her Monday.

Lissa Cox, owner of Springtown Rentals, said by phone that she visited Knight a few weeks ago and that the animals looked well-fed and housed.

"She does have a lot of animals, but she's trying to adopt them out," Cox said, calling from a second home in Colorado. "It's not like she tries to keep them forever. I think she's been wrongly accused."

Weatherford police Capt. Wayne Slimp said his agency has investigated several cases involving hoarders. Texas laws require animal owners to provide not only food and water but also a "healthy place to reside," he said.

"Generally, these cases involve somebody who's trying to help," he said. "But they just get overwhelmed."

Most of the 22 dogs have recovered from dehydration, Slimp said. Twelve will be put up for adoption as soon as they clear quarantine, including Chihuahuas, poodle mixes and one Great Pyrenees.

Most of the cats were sick and had to be euthanized, but a few will be adopted.

The Weatherford shelter is at 403 Hickory Lane.

Take home your own Birdie or Shorty or Gibson.
Source: Star-Telegram.com - July 11, 2006
Update posted on Jul 15, 2006 - 10:16PM 

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References

Star-Telegram - July 9, 2006

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