Animal Hoarding Animal Blog from Animal Friends Pet Insurance
What is an Animal Hoarder?
Animal hoarding is considered a mental illness that could lead to animal abuse and cruelty. While ethical pet insurance customers may be justly horrified by some of the conditions animals are found in, the hoarder does not necessarily think they are harming anyone and may even be convinced that they are helping to save animals.
Usually we don't hear about animal hoarders until they are seen on the news. When a case is uncovered there is usually a large number of animals that have to be rescued and placed up for adoption. Unfortunately, a lot of the time some of the animals are so neglected they cannot be rehomed, and in extreme cases may even have to be put down.
An animal hoarder is someone who collects a large number of pets and cannot provide basic needs for them. They do not or cannot provide adequate food, veterinary care or sanitary living conditions. Most of the time these people are unable to recognise they are abusing the animals.
Animal hoarders have many excuses for the way they keep their pets. They are usually strongly against euthanising any animal. They rationalize their behaviour by reasoning that any type of care is better than them being euthanised - regardless of the severity of the animal's condition or illness. Most of these types of people truly believe they are doing the pets a favour.
Another trait of animal hoarders is to continue to adopt animals in the belief if they don't take them they will not be adopted. Some people will even align themselves with rescue centers and humane groups to get easeir access to more animals. However, a responsible rehoming centre should be running checks, or at the very least asking a range of questions to ascertain suitability before any animal is adopted.
Most animal hoarders keep cats because they are easier to keep indoors. This illness is not restricted to just cats and dogs though and occurs with other animals as well.. According to the Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium, animal hoarders can suffer from a variety of illnesses, including OCD and dementia.
Some of the extreme cases have resulted in living conditions that can pose a threat to public safety and air quality. The alarming thing about this illness is once an animal hoarder is discovered and the pets are removed, the crime is often repeated within a short time period of time.
Unfortunately animal hoarding can go unnoticed until the problem ends up being very severe. Pet hoarding is costly to control, difficult to prevent and may pose life threatening dangers to the hoarded pets. Responsible pet owners can help by being vigilant in their neighbourhood, and reporting any strange or unusual noises or behaviour to the RSPCA as soon as possible.
