Hoarding: How Many Pets Makes a Person a Hoarder

How much is too much? How many animals in a home does it take for one to be described or defined as a hoarder? AC's contributor Lynn Mason wrote an article discussing the Animal Planet defining and explaining "Animal Hoarding Disorder." Read Lynn's article here.

Animal Hoarding is not new. For years there have been incidents discovered around the world of people having too many animals in their homes or on their property. The discovery of a hoarding problem generally comes to light when an individual dies, someone passes the home or property and smells a horrible disgusting stench coming from the property or a relative or neighbor gets a hint of the problem by happening upon it by mistake.

National recognition has been given to this problem recently because of the nature of the crime and people are becoming more vocal in reporting problems. Hoarding is a problem that must be discussed, recognized and reported if discovered. The problem not only affects the residents of the home, but can become a major environmental problem if not corrected.

Most people will say that hoarding is used to define an individual who has more pets than they can financially or physically care for. However, according to the Humane society of The United States along with the Animal Research Consortium, an individual is defined as a hoarder when:

1). The individual has more than the typical number of companion animals occupying their homes or property
2). They are not able to provide minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter or veterinary care which results in starvation, illness and ultimately death.
3). The individual is in denial when approached regarding the failure to provide for the animals, failure to keep their home or property clean and the negative harmful impact on themselves or any residents of the property.

Each year, an alarming two hundred and fifty thousand animals have been discovered to be victims of animal hoarding. Some of the animals have recovered with proper veterinary care, however, far too many have succumbed to their surroundings and deplorable environment.

Hoarding is an illness that is sometimes not recognized by the individual as a problem. They therefore place themselves, their neighbors, the animals and the environment in danger.

What Can Be Done to Prevent Animal Hoarding: Report A Person With More Animals Than they Can Handle

When you see an individual acquiring a number of animals and it is obvious they cannot either physically or financially handle more than one or two, report the person. Signs of hoarding begin to show when a person has numerous animals, yet they seem financially unable to handle more than one or two.

What Can Be Done to Prevent Animal Hoarding: Report Relatives, Neighbors or Friends With Numerous Animals

Hoarders have a mental problem. They cannot resist the urge to bring home any and all pets they think are neglected or in need. If they see an animal on the street, they think they are in trouble and bring them home. The problem is usually discovered but not reported until animals begin dying or the home and its surroundings begin to deteriorate.