In February we opened the ARK – Animal Restoration Kennel. It’s a facility we’re leasing that is specifically funded to save animals from hoarding situations.

While the entire shelter has a part in managing hoard intakes, the initial brunt of the work falls on our Animal Protection Services inspector unit. They deserve the credit for putting eyes on the hoards, working with law enforcement to secure warrants, and ultimately working with our prosecutors as cases of cruelty and neglect make their way through the legal process. Prior to the ARK, the logistics with these cases made it difficult for PACC to respond as quickly as we’d have liked.

Last week, we responded to notice we had been given of a particularly large hoard at a location far southwest of the city. The conditions were horrendous – like some of the tear-jerk fund raisers you often see on TV for non-profit animal welfare groups. This wasn’t about raising money. Our approach was to save lives.

We impounded 99 dogs and 3 cats from this property. The couple who owned them surrendered them all to us so there won’t be any court process.

The dogs were all living in individual crates with inadequate food and water, hygiene conditions were deplorable, and conditions on the property clearly presented a threat to their health – to their lives.

Since opening the ARK, we have now impounded nearly 250 dogs from hoard properties. Saving their lives, working with them from both a medical and behavioral side and getting them into homes is the goal of the ARK.

The operation is fully funded with private dollars, for which we are grateful. The impact on the PACC staff is an added amount of work, but saving lives and building new families is why we’re here.

Some of this group of 99 will be available for adoption at our new Eastside PACC Adoption Center (EPAC), which is scheduled to open on June 1, 2026. Some will come to PACC, and some will go to rescues. It’s a group effort to find great homes for these pups, and those homes will be night and day from the conditions our APS unit took them from.

So there are several nuggets of good news sprinkled into this week’s Scoop – the ARK is open, we successfully impounded 99 dogs from a hoard, EPAC is about to open, and PACC staffers at each location are busy bringing families together.