It was hard not to feel some sympathy for Carol Brower, who was pictured Tuesday looking forlorn, clutching a tiny Yorkie, as Benton County authorities seized 87 small dogs and puppies from her feces-filled single-wide trailer home in North Albany. Then we learned that the Yorkie she was clutching so protectively suffers from congenital heart defects and other ailments associated with inbreeding.

Shortly after the seized dogs arrived in dozens of crates to the Heartland Humane Society, one gave birth to three puppies, bringing the total number of dogs in need of foster homes to 90. Their future availability for adoption will depend on the legal outcome of second-degree animal neglect charges filed against Brower.

Although provided with food and water, Brower's dogs were living in what one veteran officer called among the worst he'd seen in 16 years on the job. Many dogs' fur was matted with urine and feces. Investigators wore gas masks to protect themselves from the stench of ammonia and sulphur .

The question, "Why do some people accumulate animals and live this way?" is one of considerable study.

According to the Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium (http://www.tufts.

edu/vet/cfa/hoarding/index.html), animal hoarding long was dismissed as "the harmless eccentricities of pet owners, the good intentions of rescuers or shelters, or the mysterious practices of breeders."

People who accumulate animals, according to the Tufts University consortium, are like another kind of addict: " … hoarding has also been viewed as an addiction … or as a form of dementia. Though hoarders are usually quite old, many recall a history of neglect or abuse by their parents. Obsessive-compulsive disorder provides another psychiatric model; about a quarter of OCD

patients exhibit object-hoarding behavior."

It's behavior seen in the world over, although it generally afflicts women middle-aged and older.

Oregon lawmakers enacted the nation's toughest animal cruelty law in 1995 in response to the infamous animal hoarding case of Vickie Kittles, whose two-year legal wrangle with Clatsop County in the early 1990s started when authorities seized 115 dogs, four cats and two chickens from her feces-covered converted school bus.

As with many animal hoarders, Kittles appeared to be oblivious to the filth and stench or her dogs' poor health. She defended herself in court as a victim of middle-class repression and over-fastidiousness.

Kittles was convicted, but she served only a nominal jail sentence and four years' probation. Her whereabouts are unknown, but follow-up articles about the case reported that the dogs and cats seized from Kittles' bus were all placed in good homes.

That is the future we hope awaits the 90 little dogs who deserve to live in a place where they can take in a deep breath of clean air.