Who Is An Animal Hoarder?
Published January 5, 2006
DuPage County Collector
It's not necessarily the number of pets, but how they and their owners live that defines hoarding. Someone with 20 dogs who keeps them in a healthy, sanitary condition would not be considered a hoarder, according to experts. The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium says hoarders:
- Accumulate a large number of animals.
- Fail to provide minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation and veterinary care.
- Fail to act on the deteriorating condition of the animals or their environments.
- Fail to act on or recognize the negative impact of their animal collecting on their own health and well-being.
Psychiatrists are just beginning to study the phenomenon, but humane societies have struggled with hoarders for years. Their behavior is on of the most perplexing mysteries of the human condition. Animal hoarders are driven to collect many more pets than they can handle. They often live in tremendous filth, endangering not only their animals but themselves and neighbors.
HARPS investigators were called out to the business location of a hoarder in DuPage County. With the help of the Department of Agriculture they began assessing the condition of the animals on the property. Among the several horses, ponies, goats, llamas, chickens, sheep, camels, exotic birds, most were found to be in varying stages of emaciation caused by starvation, many with untreated injuries. They lived in filth, and were infested with internal and external parasites. Some of the animals were impounded, others remained on the property are being monitored.