Letters: Readers sound off on Ex-Beverly Hills Mayor Charlotte Spadaro "animal hoarding" escapades

Puppy Hoarding is a Felony in California. 
Don't treat our puppies like criminals. Got It!

Note:  I have received almost 15 letters about the subject of "animal hoarding" after I ran information about former Beverly Hills Mayor Charlotte Spadaro and her recent run in with law enforcement over "animal hoarding."  This letter really stands out as being the "best of the best."  Thanks to my reader Gia Logan for this take on ol' Charlotte and her misdeeds against our four-legged friends, and what we can do as "animal lovers" to stop this crime of animal hoarding.  Thanks, Gia for the information, and your keen insight into this ongoing problem in our communities.  See the links at the bottom of this post on how you can get involved.
Randy Economy


Dear Randy:
As you so clearly stated Charlotte Spadaro is an "animal hoarder"; she doesn't "love" her animals, she collects them, allows them to live on the brink of starvation, disease riddled until they die, without knowing what a loving home is.

Ex-Beverly Hills Mayor
Charlotte Spadaro....bad puppy!

To define what Ms. Spadaro is almost defies logic, but according to Tufts University, Hoarding Animal Research Consortium she is a "rescue hoarder."* Rescue hoarders and not overwhelmed caregivers or animal advocates, they are mentally ill individuals who should be fined, jailed and receive mandatory psychiatric care, and never be allowed to own an animal again.

Unfortunately, there are currently only four states that recognize hoarding within their laws: Hawaii, New Mexico, Illinois & Vermont.

Hoarding is only listed within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM) under Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) and is just now being considered as its own mental illness for the newest revision DSM V slated for a May 2013 release.

The case surrounding Ms. Spadaro is not unusual; there have been several similar cases of rescue hoarders over the past several months. Many operate as 'non-profits", receiving tax free donations:

Noah's Ark, Alexia Tiraki-Kyrklund & Gloria Ramos - Long Beach, CA - Articles

Mommies Cat's Little Ones, Riverside/Bakersfield, CA - Cynthia Gudger (see Save the Chihuahua's "Captured Abuser" section)

__(tbd)__ Cindy Bemis & Cynthia Trapani, Bakersfield, CA - Articles

Pet Rescue, Penny Horak & Dale Armon, Bloomingdale, Illinois - Articles & volunteer website

A search on Pet-Abuse under "hoarding / abuser works in animal welfare" yielded 9 pages of cases, from convicted to alleged.

There are several common themes to each of these cases:
-Martyr - many tell stories about how the saved animals "right before the needle". How the make daily sacrifices so their babies have the best of care.

-Delusional - they may believe they have special abilities to communicate with their animals, that no one can take care of them as they do. They are unable to see the filth and decay; their surroundings are acceptable and "normal" and undeniably better than death.

-Their animals are like their children - as with Cynthia Gudger, she "loved them like they were my children," yet the animals stuffed into crates filled with feces and trash, practically taking up over half the space.

-Continues to collect without regard for level of care of existing animals - just like a shopaholic, they get excited by the thrill of the rescue, but once the animal is in their possession it is tossed aside, like another pair of shoes.

So how do we help the animals in these situations? I wish there was an easy answer and a speedy solution, but there is not. As in the case with Pet Rescue of Illinois, volunteers there had been complaining for 30 years. Their license was finally revoked in 2009. Horak in exchange for pleading guilty was sentenced to two years' court supervision and barred from ever again running another animal facility in Illinois. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is suing Armon, accusing her of spending approximately $70,000 of the non-profit group’s funds for personal use since 2007. Arnon is due back in court on April 27th.

If you believe a shelter or rescue has become a harmful place for the animals, there are several things you can do to help alleviate some of the animals' suffering. Volunteer, get firsthand documentation and pictures. If your city has a Hoarding Task Force contact them - anonymously. You have to protect yourself, as many times "whistle blowers" can face lawsuits. These "rescuers" will do whatever they can to protect their babies, and you could be the focus of their anger and wrath. Task Forces are multi-disciplinary agencies which work together to solve hoarding situations by pooling their resources. If there isn't a Task Force start with your local animal control.

If the situation doesn't improve you could go to other agencies e.g. health department, building code and safety, fire department. Sometimes the "rescuer" may only receive minor fines and violations. You may need to accept only minor victories, but whatever you can do will help, even when the law falls short.

*as defined by Tufts Hoarding Animal Research Consortium

To learn more about hoarding visit the following links:


Animal Hoarding: Alone in Crowded Room
Animal Hoarding News & Info
Rescue Hoarding: A Horror Close to Home
International OCD Foundation (IOCDF)
Tufts Hoarding Animal Research Consortium (HARC)
Children of Hoarders (COH)

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