Once bitten, twice shy

PANCAKES. That's what rescuers called the starving, dehydrated cats they discovered at the For the Love of Cats and Kittens (FLOCK) facility when Nye County Animal Control shut it down in July. Of the nearly 750 cats at the Pahrump cat sanctuary, some were in better shape than others, but even the best were pretty bad off.

"One hundred percent of the cats were in bad shape," says Sherry Woodard, animal behavior consultant for Best Friends, the Utah-based organization that temporarily took over the facility. "I mean, even the cats that seemed to be new arrivals -- that looked like they were OK -- they [had] all been exposed to contagious diseases and sickness."

FLOCK's former president, Sharon Lee Allen, is now facing 13 misdemeanor charges related to animal cruelty and neglect of 125 animals (117 of them cats) seized from her home. In April, Allen pleaded not guilty. To date, however, nobody has been charged for what happened to the FLOCK cats.

Despite last year's meltdown, FLOCK is back -- with a new board of directors made up of longtime FLOCK associates and a renewed sense of purpose. While the Pahrump sanctuary is closed, these days, FLOCK members are trying to rebuild both the organization and its reputation.

And at least one board member, current FLOCK president Maggie Ward, admits the organization's failures. "It's true the cats were badly abandoned, and we all have to accept responsibility for that, because we should have done a better job than what we did," she said.

Now, as FLOCK regroups, the organization is distancing itself from Allen, whom they accuse of literally locking out volunteers and hoarding animals.

"It wasn't our fault," says FLOCK founder Sylvia Renee Lyss. "We had faith in the person that was running the place, and we were wrong. We made a big error in asking her to take over -- that was where our fault lay." Ward, too, points to Allen as the source of the troubles at the sanctuary. But, says Ward, "None of this was deliberate. I think she had to have had a breakdown, because how could a woman be so loving to so many animals for so many years, and then let this happen?"

For her part, Allen says that she's been made the fall guy for one simple reason. "There's me, and then there's the group [FLOCK's new board] that came in May 30th." she says. "So, if they're not at fault, I have to be, don't I?"

Regardless of who's to blame, FLOCK has returned. The question is, what's changed? While the board insists management is different, the organization's mission remains the same.

"We just went on doing what we do, and figured that was the best way to prove that we are who we say we are -- and we're proud of who we are, and we're proud of what we do," says FLOCK secretary Pat Snell. Ward concurs: "We have a lot of people that have known us for many years, and they know what happened at the sanctuary was not a FLOCK thing. And there are others who are never going to believe us, and we don't bother trying to convince them. ... We don't have the energy to try -- we're all involved with the cats."

Since starting up again, FLOCK has rekindled an arrangement with a Las Vegas PetSmart store to serve as FLOCK's adoption center. Supporters have been forgiving as well. Snell says, despite all the bad press, FLOCK "did not lose very many [newsletter] subscribers, volunteers or donors."

One thing that is different: The new FLOCK has little interest in creating another sanctuary, instead focusing on adoptions and caring for feral cats.

"Sanctuaries are out from now on," says Lyss. "We will never open a sanctuary again -- at least not in my lifetime.... We're going to do anything we can for the animals, without having a sanctuary."

Not surprisingly, FLOCK has attracted lots of criticism. Much of it has been from Best Friends -- which took more than seven months and, to date, about $600,000 to clean up after FLOCK. But, according to Russ Mead, general counsel for Best Friends, this story isn't about money, but justice.

Last September, USA Today reported Nye County District Attorney Bob Becket's office promised to prosecute "to the fullest extent" if it found that crimes had been committed. But almost a year after the collapse of the FLOCK facility, no charges have been filed (other than those connected to Allen's own animals).

"It really upsets us that for the biggest cat-hoarding case in the nation, with photographs of maggots crawling out of eyes of live cats -- that nobody's been charged with cruelty yet," Mead says. (Becket's office did not respond to repeated requests to be interviewed for this story.)

According to Mead, the FLOCK incident was a textbook case of institutional hoarding. Unlike "crazy cat ladies," institutional hoarders are able to leverage the name and reputation (and funding) of an organization in order to acquire more animals. This might involve the active involvement of several members, or the actions largely of a single member, carried out in the absence of adequate oversight (in the case of FLOCK, it comes down to whose story you believe).

"They will do it again," says Woodard. "There is no doubt. They will continue. ... They don't see how wrong, how criminal, what they're doing is."

Allen challenges the idea that what happened at FLOCK was hoarding, asking, "Would a hoarder adopt out? Would a hoarder spend money on vet bills?"

Ward, too, dislikes the label, but is more circumspect. "That may be the word, or maybe it's just the fact that it's so hard to say no. There's just so many cats, with so many problems, and it's very hard to say no. What are you going to do?"

Best Friends isn't waiting around for the answer, instead leaning heavily on Becket to pursue charges against FLOCK before the one-year statute of limitations expires. In the meantime, they're skeptical of the re-formed group.

Says Mead: "If I had a cat -- and I've got one of the Pahrump cats, I would rather see that cat back on the streets of Vegas, looking for food in Dumpsters, than be where they were at FLOCK."

Peter J. Wolf is a Phoenix, Ariz.-based freelance writer. You can contact him at pjwfreelance@gmail.com.