Tana Naas, 57, of Pahrump, a woman charged with 68 counts of animal cruelty, had her case continued yet again on Thursday, Sept. 21. The judge ruled that Naas had to undergo a psychological investigation prior to appearing in court again.

Naas was charged with one count of animal cruelty for each of the dogs, mostly small Yorkies and Silkies, that were found in deplorable condition and stacked in small cages throughout her house in October 2005. The dogs were for the most part living in their own feces and not taken care of in any capacity, to the extent that one dog had to have his leg amputated after nearly gnawing it off himself.

It took a HazMat team eight hours to remove all of the animals from Naas' residence, in which her two grandchildren were living in as well. Naas' grandchildren were removed from her custody, and Southern Nye County Friends of Animals said that all the animals had been adopted as of Sept. 22, 2005.

In December 2005, Naas pleaded not guilty to the charges. Naas appeared in court for her pretrial hearing Feb. 9, but the case was continued until March. The case has been continued repeatedly since.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently sent a letter to District Attorney Robert S. Beckett, urging that if Naas were convicted that she be ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation and be banned for life from owning animals.

In the letter, PETA indicated that there was reason to believe that Naas was an "animal hoarder", or a person who obsessively collects animals, in a manner that is similar to substance abusers. PETA warned that these measures were absolutely necessary to preventing recidivism on Naas' part.

Stephanie Bell of PETA said, "Our hope is that when she is sentenced she will be banned from owning animals."

Bell said that while jail time is effective, it is only a temporary solution in the case of animal hoarders like Naas because "the recidivism rate is alarmingly high."