The 45-year-old rural Freeport woman just seemed overwhelmed to Stephenson County Animal Warden Kristin Laue.
“She just looked very tired, unkempt,” Laue said. “She wanted help.”
Laue said the scene she found March 16 still staggers her: There were 84 live dogs and at least 29 dead cats and 36 dead dogs on McKinnon’s rental property northwest of Freeport near Eleroy.
She had brought two freezers full of dead animals and a rental truck with live dogs in kennels when she moved to Stephenson County from Texas in December, authorities said.
Local authorities say they haven't seen an animal hoarding case the size of McKinnon's in recent memory, but nationwide, animal hoarding is not scarce. Each year, about 3,500 animal hoarders come to authorities' attention, and about 80 percent of them have diseased, dying or dead animals, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
There's no clear profile for people who hoard, but without mental health treatment, hoarders are doomed to relapse, experts say.
Hoarding of anything — whether it be newspapers, clothing or cats — is exaggerated collecting that can lead to a dangerous lifestyle, Bell said.
“We know that 92 percent of individuals who demonstrate hoarding behaviors are going to have some form of mental health diagnosis (at) some point of their lives,” said Elspeth Bell, a licensed psychologist and hoarding expert with the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. “(But) the people who hoard animals tend to be qualitatively different from the individuals who would collect and accumulate inanimate objects.
“They don’t see the filth and the dirt and the squalor and the unhealthiness of it. They really are blind to it. They don’t see that they are mistreating the animals.”
Some underlying mental health problems may include depression, anxiety, trauma and loss.
Animal owners may think they’re not deserving of living in a better environment than what they have or they’re not sure how to create a better environment, which begins an intense and gradual process of a hoarding habit spinning out of control.
The cure, Bell said, is to put the animal hoarder in contact with the proper resources.
In McKinnon's case, her hoarding came to authorities' attention when her landlord heard barking and opened the cracked door to have more than a dozen dogs run out and off the property. She told authorities she had received some dogs from a humane society in Springfield, Missouri, before moving to the rental property at 1358 N. Heitter Road.
Laue expects to testify against McKinnon at her trial, which is scheduled to start July 20, and advocates that she spend time behind bars. This week, McKinnon's attorney, Chief Public Defender Byron Sloan, filed a motion seeking to bar any statements she made to police. Prosecutors responded seeking more details on which statements should be barred and why. A hearing on that matter is scheduled for June 10.
Laue figures McKinnon meant well in the beginning, as the older dogs are spayed and neutered.
McKinnon has told Stephenson County authorities that her animals were surviving on 50 pounds of food a day, but Laue said the surviving dogs were going through 100 pounds of food a day when they came under her care.
"She did want what’s right for those dogs," Laue said. "I do believe that she meant well in the beginning, and she just got out of control. She just needs help."
McKinnon’s former dogs, including some puppies born after her arrest, are on their way to finding new homes. Laue said of the 95 dogs she had to place, 33 had found new homes as of Wednesday.
Experts say animal hoarders frequently are misguided in thinking they can properly take care of the animals they have or that no one else could do it as well as they can.
Dena Gates, general manager of Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in Rockford, said her kennel houses an average of 75 to 100 animals at a time, about the same number of animals McKinnon had. Noah's Ark, though, has several staff members to manage their care.
“I couldn’t imagine having all those animals and doing it all by myself,” Gates said.
(Rockford Register Star - May 29, 2015)
About hoarding Annually, 3,500 animal hoarders grab the attention of authorities;
At least 250,000 animals are affected annually;
Between 2 and 5 percent of the general population could be considered hoarders of both objects and animals;
About 80 percent of animal hoarders have diseased, dying, or dead animals on their properties;
Women tend to hoard more than men. In fact, across the board, 70 percent of animal hoarders brought to the attention of authorities are females who are single, widowed, or divorced. Community-sampling studies find an equal ratio of males to females;
Up to 40 percent of object hoarders hoard animals.
Source: Anxiety and Depression Association of America
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