The welfare of cats and dogs under the care of Four Paws Rescue has ignited concern among some Cache Valley animal lovers as they seek resolution to an alleged institutional hoarding situation.

The Millville-based, no-kill rescue run by Lisa Shaw has taken hits — and fired back — against those calling into question the practices of the decades-old organization.

Former volunteers and some residents associated with the Cache Humane Society have spoken out about conditions — at Shaw’s Millville home and at other properties where cats and dogs are kept in kennels and foster situations — that have possibly led to lack of control within the nonprofit.

When asked if she was a hoarder, Shaw denied the claims, pointing to the organization’s successful track record of finding homes for cats and dogs.

“I am not a hoarder. We have adopted out almost 12,000 animals. I don’t think that is the work of a hoarder. There are times when an animal comes across that can’t be adopted out. As a rescue, we agree to take care of that animal,” Shaw said. “I think some have just become highly critical of how things are done.”

Former volunteer turned critic Whitney Schulte starting helping Four Paws in 2011 by cleaning out cages of the adoptable animals that resided at PetSmart in Logan.

Schulte began to see what she called red flags for a larger problem within the organization after she and other volunteers were prohibited from ever seeing the shelter location in Millville.

Schulte claims that in the time she was volunteering, no volunteers were allowed into Shaw’s home or allowed to visit any of the remote sites the organization uses to hold excess dogs and cats.

“I have worked with other rescues but never worked with others that do not allow volunteers into the shelter,” Schulte said. “That is a big red flag, if you can’t look at where the animals are being kept.”

After an explosion of social media posts vilifying those on both sides of the issue, the parties met for a sort of peace summit Sunday evening.

“We had a meeting on Sunday with a lot of those upset, and I invited every one of them to come out to the property,” Shaw said. “I get so angry at the innuendo. I would love to have them come and help or bathe and feed them (the animals).”

Schulte confirmed that volunteers met with Shaw, but they did not feel it was worth visiting the properties unless they could do so unannounced. They allege scheduled visits would allow Shaw to move animals off-site so the shelter’s actual conditions couldn’t be observed.

However, the Sunday meeting did facilitate the organizing of volunteers that will visit the shelter next week in an effort to catalog all the dogs and cats, Schulte said.

Looking back on her volunteering with Four Paws, Schulte said unannounced visits were not allowed and that inspections with animal control officers were always scheduled.

Schulte said she severed ties with Four Paws shortly after October’s 17th annual Moondog Ball fundraiser — the primary source of funding for the organization. During the event, Shaw revealed to her how many cats she had living in carriers, Schulte said.

“Lisa personally told me on Nov. 4 that she had over 100 cats. I had heard rumblings but didn’t know,” Schulte said. “I don’t think life in a carrier is a good life.”

After leaving, Schulte spoke with other former volunteers about the conditions, and she said they all talked of similar experiences dealing with the organization.

In an email to The Herald Journal, former volunteer Nicole Hellstrom outlined numerous concerns for the welfare of dogs locked in a barn and cats spending years living in pet carriers in and around Shaw’s home.

“She is a rescue and the lack of transparency and her lack of improving the conditions of the animals for AT least the last nine years is disturbing,” Hellstrom wrote. “Instead of helping the animals she continues to shuffle them around and put on a charade.”

According to Four Paws’ website, the organization started in 1995 became a 501©(3) in 2000 and has subsequently filed taxes each year as such.

In 2016 and 2015 tax returns, Four Paws lists Shaw as its president, Sheri Zollinger as its vice president, Kitty White its secretary and Shannon Hunt as a trustee for the organization.

Concerns about animals under Zollinger’s care were also raised when animal control was sent to her Providence house on a report of an excess number of cats living inside.

Animal control officer Floyd Powell was denied entry to the home in early February but was allowed to return at a later date with a scheduled appointment, Schulte said.

After entry was allowed, the cats were not at the home and were allegedly moved under the cover of darkness. In a report, Powell indicated there was cat feces on the walls and “so much urine on the floors that the floor boards had been rotting away.”

Shaw countered the claims about Zollinger’s home. She said there were not 100 cats at the residence but admitted there were at least 20 that were allowed to roam free, some of which may have been sick.

“Sheri did not have 100 cats in her house. She let them roam, which is what led to the conditions in the home,” Shaw said. “I keep them in crates, which keeps them separated from disease. They are all fed and have clean litter boxes and are in good health.”

While Shaw would not say where the cats from Zollinger’s home had been taken, she said they are being cared for.

Aside from the dog kennel Four Paws operates in the county, Shaw said she did have 51 cats at her Millville home and is actively seeking homes for those that are adoptable.

The Four Paws’ kennel facility was granted a special use permit by Cache County in 2001 to house up to 50 dogs. The 37 dogs, some of which aren’t adoptable, are fed each day and given fresh water and allowed to run in an outdoor run.

Sheriff Chad Jensen said he and the county’s animal control deputies have been working with Millville to address kennel violations as the city considers a potential change to the ordinances affecting kennels and foster situations.

According to Millville code, residents are not allowed to license or own more than six dogs or six cats with no combination exceeding nine of any animal. The city does have an exemption for an animal foster care provider, but neither Four Paws nor Shaw has that exemption.

During a Feb. 8 Millville City Council meeting, Development Coordinator Harry Meadows discussed with the council that Four Paws did not hold a foster care exemption — nor did anyone else in the city — or have a business license in Millville.

Numerous critics of Four Paws have written letters to the council and spoke during its most recent meeting last week.

While many of the letters included similar claims, a letter written by Emily Malik pleaded with the council to pass new ordinances that would limit the number of animals and include unannounced inspections of kennel and foster locations.

In her letter to the council, Malik wrote: “The primary reason that I believe it is important that Millville City require Lisa to hold a kennel license (limiting the number of animals she can hold) and be subject to random inspections of her property is that Lisa, the Four Paws Rescue Director, and Sheri (of Providence, UT), the Four Paws Cat Manager, are animal hoarders. Animal hoarding is a mental disorder that contributes to an environment that is unhealthy for both humans and animals and can result in condemned properties, animal cruelty charges, and rampant illness and death in animals. Sometimes animal rescues that have hoarding situations in them are worse conditions than the animals come from.”

Rocky Taylor, a former Hyde Park animal control officer and current Cache Humane Society board member, said that during his time dealing with animal issues he found Four Paws to always have the best interest of the cat or dog at heart.

“A lot of people can criticize, but she always did what was best,” Taylor said. “It is an unfortunate circumstance. I think the people who have complained are not personally involved in her animals. There are a lot of well-intentioned people who are providing information that may not be fully informed.”

As an animal control officer in Hyde Park for nearly 10 years, Taylor said he did not feel Four Paws should be categorized as institutional hoarders or that Shaw and Zollinger be labeled hoarders themselves.

“They have done what hoarders do and collected more animals than they can manage, but the animals are not neglected,” Taylor said. “I have been in the homes of hoarders; in those homes the animals are not the priority. They are sick and poorly kept. They (Four Paws) don’t have the hoarder mentality.”

Taylor said he’d estimate that nearly 40 percent of outdoor dogs in the valley are not cared for better than the ones at Four Paws.

“The Cache Humane Society walks the dogs individually, but Lisa doesn’t have that luxury. That is not an ideal situation, but it is better than what they would have had if Lisa had not stepped in,” Taylor said.

As the contracted agency providing animal control to much of the county, the Sheriff’s Office deals with similar, yet different, animal ordinances in each town.

Those varied ordinances outline how each town or city manages what animals are taken to the Cache Humane Society and how many dogs or cats can be on a property.

Within the county, unless a resident has a kennel license, it is prohibited to have seven or more adult dogs.

The animals at Four Paws are all cared for, Sheriff Jensen said, adding: “There are just too many cats. If there was evidence of mistreatment we could and would impound the animals.”

As for those concerned with the well-being of the cats and dogs under the care of Four Paws, many are hopeful they can chip away and help boost adoptions or placements with other rescues and foster families.

“I just hope the animals get to safety, and they do what is best for them. I feel bad that I haven’t spoken up until now, and I just think someone has to be the voice for the animals,” Schulte said. “For the longest time (Lisa) was my inspiration for rescuing animals. Now that all this is coming out, people are mad on both sides.”