NEWS AND VIEWS - OREGON, USA: Cat hoarding is not that uncommon. We need to be both sympathetic to cat hoarders and more so to the animals that they hoard and therefore there comes a time when the cat hoarder needs to be punished as well as provided with treatment if they are the victims of a genuine addiction as is the case with this woman.
Note: the picture below depicts a fictional character and not the woman featured in this story. This image was created by a computer. Good isn't it? Although it is somewhat sanitised. True cat and dog hoarders live in incredibly filthy places.
The story concerns a woman in Portland, USA. Her name is Samantha Miller. She has a long history of repeated offending and being somewhat let off by judges until this last case when she was imprisoned for two years because the criminal court system grew tired of her and the judge in this case saw through her lies.
The history of this woman's addiction to rescuing and caring for cats and dogs began formally in terms of first coming to the attention of the state authorities about five years ago. That's when the State Department Of Justice shut down their dog rescue and barred them from opening any further non-profit rescue operations as part of a 2019 agreement (settlement). At that time there rescue centre was called Scappoose.
Miller and her partner Torrance Head apparently then set up another non-profit business in which they promised to save dogs from high-kill California shelters. That rescue operation was also raided in 2020 by animal control officers who seized 122 cats and dogs living in filthy kennels. This couple again were abusing cats and dogs under cover of a rescue operation.
Apparently last August, Miller was also in breach of parole conditions for changing her address without permission and generally being untruthful. The judge let her off with a warning.
Her partner, Torrance Head, pleaded guilty in 2023 of doctoring phony certificates for rabies vaccinations.
Moving forward, Miller then set up another operation called Woofin Palooza which resulted in Miller receiving a 270-count indictment against her with respect to the mistreatment of animals. She then entered into another settlement agreement in which he promised to stay away from cat abd dog rescue which kept her out of jail.
Moving forward again, a parole officer for Samantha Miller made a surprise visit to her home in Tillamook County in March to ensure that she was sticking to her agreement. They found seven dogs locked in a trailer. And cat litter boxes, cat toys and cat food in her home. She had broken her agreement.
This led to a trial in which she was imprisoned for two years as mentioned. The state prosecutor said that she had "never taken full responsibility for the harm that she inflicted on animals and humans".
You can see that here is a thread running through this story which is Samantha Miller and Torrance Head's untruthfulness and Miller's addiction to rescuing cats and dogs. And she simply doesn't want to abide by the law or her agreement to stay away from animal rescue on the basis that she simply can't cope with it.
That's why I say this is a good example of how cat and dog hoarding can become an addiction and it also hints I would argue with mental health issues in cat hoarders.
It's a known fact that, in general, cat hoarders are borderline mentally ill for the major reason that they simply fail to see that what they are doing is not cat and dog rescue but cat and dog abuse.
They hoard the animals under the guise of rescuing them because they are hoarders generally and in being hoarders and living chaotic lives they neglect the animals' welfare which is animal abuse. That's why this woman ended up in jail.
They invariably defend themselves by lying all the time about their activities.
And I would strongly suggest that when she is released from jail she will go back to doing the same thing again.
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