Despite the fact that pit bulls are the bitiest dogs in NYC, we generally feel like they've been given a bit of a bad rap (the pro-pit bull website is literally "badrap.org"). But that doesn't mean keeping 18 of them in your house is such a great idea, which is exactly what a 57-year-old Brooklyn woman from Tobago has been doing. And she isn't ashamed that she's a pit bull hoarder: “I guess I am...I love them like they are my kids. And they love me like I am their mom.”
The woman, who asked the Daily News to withhold her name, has 13 gray adult dogs, often referred to as “Blue Nose” pit bulls, living in her backyard and basement—and she has five puppies, born just after Christmas, staying inside the house. This week, after the fighting between the dogs started to become too much, she agreed to let the ASPCA come in and evaluate her dogs, some of whom had never been spayed or neutered. “I just couldn’t do it. They had been through so much already," she said of the dogs, some of whom had been rescued after being beaten and abused.
ASPCA's Cruelty Intervention Advocacy program spokeswoman Jennifer Sarasky-Morales said situations vary greatly as to how they deal with animal hoarders. And in the case of this woman, they've deemed she is tenuously able to care for a certain number of her dogs: “She’s definitely able to handle a lot right now but anything can tip that scale,” she said. “At least now we can prevent the number of dogs from going up.” For her part, the woman has agreed to let the ASPCA place the puppies in new homes, but she is reluctant to let go of the adults: “I love my dogs,” she said. “I’m not ready to give them up yet.”
