Kimi Peck Update: Pathological dog hoarder Kimi Peck has moved frequently in order to keep hoarding chihuahuas and other dogs and animals after interventions in one city, town, or county after another, having had seven illegal kennels shut down by 2005, but still kept at it.

Most recently doing her hoarding in Tehachapi, California, she's back in the news in the mid-2010 when the Humane Society of Kern County rescued from her clutches 180 dogs, eighteen cats, ten chickens and several rabbits from her overcrowded property which she calls a Chihuahua Rescue.

She had done her research and her move to Tehachapi was specifically because animal control laws in this place are absurdly lax, permiting anyone to have as many pets as they want. But there was a rub. She would have to take care of them properly, too.

By a truly curious coincidence, her new residence was formerly occupied by animal hoarder Cynthia Gudger before she was arrested and ordered into mental health treatment.

In February of 2009, code compliance officers began to move against her, and Peck began her usual attempt to manipulate the media into reporting that bad people enforcing bad codes were trying to destroy the lives of 200 animials for whom she and she alone was savior.

By March her home was declared a public nuisance and she was fined $5,500, and she set out to relocate hundreds of animals. But since it was her code violations and not the animals themselves pursued, animals were not as yet being rescued from the faux rescuer.

Though Peck lacked facilities to care for so many animals, she has long been incapable of controlling herself, and by January 2010 she had 150 dogs on the premises while threatening to sue everyone in sight if they tried to stop her activities. She continued her years-long on-line campaigns against her "persecutors" who had become numerous. She begged for money, and over the years is believed to have garnered $600,000 for her illegal kennel.

She begged for volunteers to help with feeding, watering, and cleaning up, which meant once a week her home had the dog turds and urine cleaned off the floor, though most of the time she simply personally lived with feces and chihuahuas all over the house, as it appeared she cleaned up nothing unless volunteers arrived to do so.

By December 2009 her home was in forclosure. She was delinquent on licenses for 204 of her dogs. She was facing up to $200,000 in fines and ten years in prison. Animal Control slapped her with 200 misdemeanor citations. Soon she would be evading court dates and got herself arrested, released from jail under a stiff bail bond.

Then, rather inexplicably but with faint promise for a brighter future for Kimi as well as dogs subjected to her obsession, after six months of her usual paranoic insistance that everyone's out to destroy her animals, she suddenly, and for the first time, stopped making excuses for herself!

For the first time she contacted authorities for help, rather than waiting for them once more to descend upon her unbidden. In the photo in-text above, Kimi is shown signing over her animals to Animal Control. But bare in mind, animal hoarding is not a behavior that easily changes without persistent outpatient treatment which Kimi was not about to obtain.

Adam Parascandola, director of Animal Cruelty for The HSUS, said "We are grateful that the owner reached out to us to ask for assistance, and has been cooperative throughout the rescue process. Today marks the beginning of a new life for these animals." It didn't happen until after her house was forclosed and she was served eviction notice, but it happened. And for the many people who've watched Kimi's crazed behavior along the years, jaws must be dropping to the floor.

She claimed she has even, for the first time, removed from her webpage the pleas for "donations" to keep rescuing dogs, and has said out loud, "I won't be rescuing any more dogs." In reality not all the many webpages "supporting" her and villaining actual dog rescuers for getting in her way have not been updated or changed.

Still, perhaps this means, incredibly, after years of changeless behavior even under pressure, Kimi really is beginning a new healthier life as well. I wish her the best in that regard, but without outpatient treatment from a good mental health facility, I expect we'll hear from her again, sooner than later.

Already, out "begging" again for a free car to pull the little trailer she had to move into, she has six dogs living in the tiny wheeled home with her. So pardon my dubiouisness about her miraculous recovery, but II think she already has more dogs than is reasonable for a shed-sized residence, and eventually we will be hearing of her antics anew.