Thank you to Rosie Andre for taking the initiative to write an excellent post about a form of keeping animals which often starts with good intentions, but inevitably demonstrates a conflicted personhood, with dire consequences for the animals themselves:

Animal hoarding is a very serious problem which has been getting more attention in the media and on the news lately: a bust on a home, rescue compound or supposed sanctuary where authorities were given a tip about unsafe and unhealthy conditions, with sometimes hundreds of animals overcrowded in one place.  This kind of situation is much more intense than what we tend to think of when it comes to the socially misunderstood and eccentric animal lover, or ‘cat lady,’ who keeps more than an average amount of pets.

It’s a problem which can deeply and negatively affect people and the animals they accumulate, and which can present a major health concern to the public as well.  There are many more cases that go unreported, and some fear the numbers will only keep growing.

The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium (HARC) associated with Tufts University defines animal hoarding as a case of having more than a typical amount of animals in one place, the inability to provide the bare necessities for these animals which leads to neglect and squalor, and perhaps most importantly a profound denial of the neglect and its consequences on human and animal welfare in the home.  According to the Humane Society of the United States, between 1,200 and 1,600 cases of animal hoarding are discovered every year.  Though much is still not understood about why people become hoarders, it is believed that oftentimes it may stem from emotional issues or past abuse which leads a hoarder to want to be surrounded by dozens of animals, regardless of their ability to properly care for them. 

I personally haven't had a lot of experience with hoarding, but I've become curious about it lately and decided to do some research on the subject.  I also have recently remembered some events from the past which now seem like they were hoarding cases.  I’ve long considered myself to be an animal lover, always having had a cat or two and a dog in the family at any given time.  Like many pet lovers, I see my pets as family members and not as property.  So when I hear of cases of extreme hoarding, whether useless things, trash, or especially animals, I am curious and also a bit horrified at the thought of it.  I wonder how on earth could something like that happen?   But for some reason, I’ve become fascinated by cases of hoarding, perhaps triggered by the weekly A&E cable channel show Hoarders depicting cases of extreme hoarding, including episodes about instances of animal hoarding, and the shame it can bring.

This type of situation is familiar in my family.  I can remember going to my great-aunt’s house as a child and feeling quite uncomfortable about all the "stuff" crammed into her formidably-sized home, not to mention the peculiar smell.  She also seemed to have a never-ending supply of cats and kittens coming and going, most of which did not appear to be taken care of like my pets at home.  A story in the family is told that one cold Wisconsin winter, when the furnace went out, the repairman could not get to it because of all the accumulation of trash and objects in front of the furnace, not to mention some cat corpses.  Years later I asked my mom why it was that way, and she said maybe it had to do with my great-aunt being a young widow, and the psychological issues which ran on her side of the family.  I wonder if there was some OCD going on, or what exactly drove my great-aunt to live in such conditions, allowing so many animals to live and die in her home?

It is believed that the extreme nature of animal hoarding, once known as “collecting,” stems from deep emotional and psychological issues.  Often it's the product of obsessive compulsive and attachment disorders, and addiction and focal delusional disorders have also been cited by researchers.  It has also been suggested that hoarding of animals can begin after a traumatic loss or live event, like in the case of my great-aunt.  The difficulty with recognizing the problem is that often the hoarder lives a seemingly normal life.  They can be well-educated and very good at leading others to believe that their animal situation is under control.  It’s a sad situation, not only for the person afflicted with the disorder, but also for the countless animals subjected to the most unimaginably deplorable living conditions.  Often the living conditions are condemned and found as inhabitable for humans, with the severe neglect taking the biggest toll on the animals involved.  The same dimensions that contribute to the problem of animal hoarding – personal, household, and community – can end up being those most affected by the problem itself.

The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium, made up of a panel of volunteer researchers interested in the complex social and personal implications of animal hoarding, commenced their research in 1997.  The group aimed to develop an intervention manual, and they continue to maintain a website of valuable insight into the sad world of animal hoarding.  Their research suggests that animal hoarding as a psychological dilemma has even more implications in areas of cruelty such as elder abuse, child abuse, and self-neglect.  The consequences to the communities where these cases occur, which can be absolutely anywhere, are great as well.  There are many costs associated with rescue and intervention, as well as sheltering and prosecution.

Since there isn't very much public education about what hoarding really is at present, the first reaction to the discovery of a hoarding situation is to prosecute the hoarder.  However, this will not solve the problem, as it has been suggested that “without appropriate post-intervention treatment, recidivism approaches 100%” (HARC).  Sometimes incarceration of the hoarder is appropriate, but often charges are not sought by authorities.  It is agreed among experts and rescuers that increased awareness and education, along with long-term interventions, are needed.  Luckily, there are more and more websites and other resources popping up aiming to educate the public about the horrors of hoarding.  As one article stated, people need to “work together to stop animal hoarding ... good intentions aren't always enough.  It really does seem possible to love animals to death.”

(A sincere thanks to Rosie for "Animal Hoarding," which she researched and wrote specifically for not one sparrow.  A Wisconsin native, Rosie currently lives in York, Pennsylvania with her husband Sean and cats Milo and Otis.  Aside from the sources mentioned in her post, she also drew from AnimalHoarding.com and the ASPCA's animal hoarding online resource.  Videos shared by Diagonal View and AnimalHoarding.com/Inside Animal Hoarding: The Case of Barbara Erickson and her 552 Dogs.)