Animal Hoarders: Using animals to fill an endless void
Website design By BotEap.comMany people collect things: antiques, stamps or coins. Not unusual. Animal hoarders, sometimes known as “collectors,” are people who hoard animals beyond their space, time, and financial ability to cope. Animal hoarding goes beyond simply having more than the typical number of animals. The job definition of a hoarder is someone who:
- Accumulate a large number of animals.
- It does not provide minimum standards of nutrition, sanitation and veterinary care.
- It does not act on the deterioration of the condition of the animals (including disease, starvation and even death) or the environment (severe overcrowding and unsanitary conditions).
- Does not act or recognize the negative.
- The majority (76%) of the hoarders were women and 54% were under the age of 60.
- 70% were single.
- The animals most frequently involved were cats (65%), dogs (60%) and birds (11%).
- There was a median of 39 animals per case, but many exceeded 100 animals.
- In 80% of the cases there were animals dead or in poor condition, and in 58% of these, the hoarder would not recognize that there was a problem.
- 60% of the hoarders studied were repeat offenders.