But representatives of the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals say the problem is common and growing. So the SPCA held a seminar at Monmouth University on Wednesday for experts to educate area animal control officers, health officials and others about how to identify and address the problem.
1. The Overwhelmed Caregiver – A person in the neighborhood to whom everyone knows they can bring a lost or abandoned animal. Their hoarding is one of passive acquisition in which others bring them animals to care for.
Gretchen Rell Rochkovsky was a longtime volunteer with the Monmouth County SPCA, who would transport injured birds from the SPCA to a wildlife rehabilitator for help. Her neighbors said children also would bring injured birds to her Little Silver home.
Last year, more than 300 dead birds were found there, stacked from floor to ceiling, after an animal advocate reported suspicions to the SPCA.
Rell Tochkovsky, 57 at the time, pleaded guilty to animal neglect in Superior Court in Monmouth County. She was placed on probation for five years and ordered not to have any animals or any contact with the SPCA during that time. She also was ordered to perform 30 hours of community service and to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Her attorney, Dennis J. Melofchik, said Rell Rochkovsky was "a good-hearted woman who really got overwhelmed by the birds and animals given to her care and rehabilitation.''
2) The Exploiter – A person who purposely seeks out more and more animals and intends to harm them. The exploiter hoarder is incredibly charismatic and charming on the outside, but can be very manipulative. Exploitive breeders may fall within this category.
Anthony Appolonia of Aberdeen would acquire cats and kittens by answering adoption advertisements that residents had placed in local newspapers. One resident who turned over a cat to Appolonia said he wanted her to give him names of more people from whom he could get additional cats. Authorities charged Appolonia with accumulating the cats and kittens so that he could torture and kill them.
In 2008, Appolonia admitted in Superior Court in Monmouth County that he beat 19 cats, most of them kittens, and broke their bones with his own hands before placing them in his bathtub and holding their heads under water until they drowned.
Appolonia, who was 50 at the time of the court case, was sentenced to five years in prison and banned from owning pets.
3) The Rescuer – A person with a fear of death who seeks to save animals from euthanasia. Rescuer hoarders believe themselves to be the only person who can provide the proper care to the animals and are reluctant to place rescued animals up for adoption with others because they believe it is virtually impossible for others to meet the criteria to care for the animals. Rescuer hoarders have an extensive network of enablers.
Matthew Teymant, a former Toms River police dispatcher and son of a police canine officer, was active in local and national animal rescue programs and at one time headed an organization to rescue distressed hedgehogs. A volunteer with his local first aid squad, Teymant and his wife, Amanda, took stray and sick animals into their Barnegat home, but things got out of hand.
In 2008, the Teymants fell behind on their mortgage and moved out of the home. They left behind 68 animals – dogs, cats, turtles, hamsters, guinea pigs and a possible ferret – to die in what was described by an SPCA officer as "a maggot-infested tomb.''
In 2009, Teymant, then 30, pleaded guilty to animal cruelty in Superior Court in Ocean County. He was placed on probation for five years and ordered to perform 250 hours of community service. He also resigned from his police dispatcher job. Amanda Teymant, then 23, entered an 18-month diversionary program designed to enable her to avoid a criminal record.
(App.com - May 30, 2015)
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