Animal cruelty charges have not yet been filed against a Wheatfield animal rescuer who was arrested last month for child endangerment after 24 dogs in and around her home were found living in proximity to two children.

All but six of the dogs were seized for their own welfare and one was found dead. Another 22 animals were taken from Pitstop Puppys, the rented former kennel at 3049 Niagara Falls Blvd. run by Joelle Kott of Norman Road since 2004.

Niagara County Sheriff’s Captain Bruce Elliott said Monday that results of SPCA veterinarians’ examination of the animals are still pending. The report may or may not result in additional charges of neglect. SPCA personnel had documented freezing conditions at the facility along with a reported lack of food and water at both locations.

In the meantime, however, an initial report of the charges against Kott has piqued the interest of a psychologist with the ASPCA used to testify about the human/animal relationship in similar criminal cases and before animal rights organizations worldwide.

Dr. Randall Lockwood, senior vice president of the ASPCA’s forensic sciences and anti-cruelty projects said whether the distinction is one of animal cruelty, abuse or animal hoarding, the animals are the ones that suffer.

The “hoarding” concept is nothing new, he explained, but more importantly it helps explain a recent rise nationwide in cases involving shelters shut down for neglecting animals they can’t properly care for.

Lockwood, who retired as vice president of the U.S. Humane Society in 2005 after 20 years, added he is not officially hanging that moniker on the case in Wheatfield. Nevertheless, he said a failure to properly care for all of the animals is a crime regardless of economic realities or a flagging influx of donations. It is a misdemeanor without intent, a felony with malice.

It is a crime regardless of whether or not the intentions are good.

“More and more the cases that we encounter are involving animal rescuers or rescue groups,” he said, later adding, “You don’t have to say I’m going to (harm) this animal but if you fail to provide the animal with food or water then that is an act of omission that has predictable results.”

Partly, he said a rise in such cases could be attributable to the quantity of animals and a widespread popular resistance to euthanasia. A belief that saving every animal is of paramount importance, regardless of the chances the same animals could end up in a life without proper nutrition or other basic necessities.

Contrary to the stigma associated with violent abusers, hoarders are often educated, articulate people who for any number of reasons find it unbearable to let go of nearly as many animals as they take in.

“We’ve seen situations involving doctors, lawyers, teachers and others ...,” he said.

Niagara County SPCA Board President Brandy Scrufari indicated on the day of the raid that many of the dogs in Kott’s care were emaciated when officials led them away.

“(Legitimate shelters) don’t keep animals in a situation where they don’t have adequate food or adequate heat and if they can’t provide that they stop taking animals in,” he said.

Kott’s Facebook page detailed 10 surrenders in January and included a posting saying that she had begun using her home to house additional dogs. Last year, in a story about fundraising efforts at the shelter, she said foreclosures had contributed to a major spike in recent years in the number of dogs surrendered by people who could no longer care for the dogs themselves.

In an influx of dogs Kott described on the Facebook page as “crazy,” Kott apparently had trouble closing her door as the number exceeded the rented former kennel she used to primarily house them.

“That does seem to be a growing problem — some of this involves legitimate shelters being overwhelmed by foreclosure,” Lockwood said, “but sometimes it’s not a legitimate rescue group, they are in it for their own psychological needs.”

To be clear, though, he couldn’t say for certain which framework encompasses the story of Pitstop Puppys’ current demise.

Either way, on Monday the shelter remained dormant, it’s former four-legged occupants now in the care of the already overwhelmed SPCA. On the front door are several signs apparently chronicling a desperate situation. It is not clear when each one was placed there.

One of the messages signed by Kott reads: “We are trying here to help those who cannot help themselves. Donations ‘fix’ things that need fixing, not calling someone to turn this place in. It only brings headache and sorrow to us who are helping these dogs so they are not put down at a shelter. Please ... if you have a problem call and have it resolved between us!”

Another refers to recent vandalism.

Another names the price and variety of dog food donors were urged to buy at Thieles on Shawnee Road to help feed the dogs in Kott’s care.

The dogs’ fate depends entirely on the due legal process to either find Kott at fault or not. Assuming it does, Lockwood said the process for re-placing animals involves sending small groups to each of a nationwide network of accredited rescues. Keeping tabs on which are legitimate or potentially overwhelmed from time to time take consistent monitoring of the number of animals and resources available to each.

“We’ve taken in animals from as far away as California in New York City,” he said. “That’s one of the things you have to be very careful about.”

A recent case involving a Florida household housing roughly 600 cats involved working with the University of Florida and other groups to establish pre-approved rescue operations where small numbers of animals could be disbursed while reducing the chances any one of them would become critically overwhelmed.

“They’ve been farmed out throughout the state and beyond,” he said.

Contact reporter Neale Gulley at 693-1000, ext. 114.