Animal Hoarding Isn't Saving Lives Of Animals.

In a 1999 study Dr. Patronek, professor Tufts University defined animal hoarders:
source: Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium, Animal Hoarding

People who accumulate a large number of animals; fail to provide minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation and veterinary care; and fail to act on the deteriorating condition of the animals, the environment, and their own health. Hoarders justify their behavior with the view that the animals are surrogate children and that no one else can care for them. They harbor a fear that if they seek help the animals will be euthanized."

More recently, in a publication from the Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium, Animal Hoarding: Structuring interdisciplinary responses to help people, animals and communities at risk, Patronek and his cohorts list four key characteristics:

1. Failure to provide minimal standards of sanitation, space, nutrition, and veterinary care for the animals.
2. Inability to recognize the effects of this failure on the welfare of the animals, human members of the household, and the environment.
3. Obsessive attempts to accumulate or maintain a collection of animals in the face of progressively deteriorating conditions.
4. Denial or minimization of problems and living conditions for people and animals.

If you know of someone, or have a relative that has more than 20 animals in there home, they are considered hoarders. Now, if the person is a foster for a shelter, they are not hoarders. Hoarders are people that think they are "saving" poor, lost animals from death or cruelty. Most of the time, the animals are loved, just not properly cared for. The animals are left to breed because the hoarder can't afford to have them sterilized, (spayed or neutered). Most of the time, a hoarder will keep dead animals in their freezers because they can't stand to part with them.

Then you have animals breeding their own offspring, and this causes major problems. If you know of anyone that is hoarding, please contact your local animal welfare people, local animal shelters or the local authorities. You will be doing the people a favor and definitely, the animals.

The Lost Doberman.

This post is being done with much sadness and anger. Recently in the Herald Dispatch, a man named Richard Hill submitted a photo and information about a lost Doberman. This man professes to be an animal lover and rescuer of abused animals. He says that he has 50 acres that he lets his rescues roam loose on. Why in the world would you rescue these poor creatures and then let them run loose and take the chance of them getting hit by a car, taken and sold for research, or at the mercy of cruel children that think hurting an animal is fun. And yes, there are kids out there that do that! Also, dogs are taken to be used as training tools for people that fight dogs. Mr. Hill, you say that this is the first dog you have ever lost in your 50 yrs. of rescuing dogs. I am sorry, but your method has a lot to be desired. All you can hope is that the dog is being cared for. I am so disturbed by your methods. Personally, I think you should be charged with neglect. Shame on you.

What Is Animal Hoarding?

The following criteria are used to define animal hoarding:

More than the typical number of companion animals. The inability to provide even minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter, and veterinary care, with this neglect often resulting in starvation, illness, and death. And the denial of the inability to provide this minimum care and the impact of that failure on the animals, the household, and human occupants of the dwelling. Animal hoarding jars communities across America on a daily basis with approximately 1500 new cases discovered each year. Thousands of animals suffer and some die in squalid surroundings, devoid of adequate food and water, yet, the owners insist nothing is wrong. Standing in three inches of feces, breathing acrid ammonia in the air, and in plain view of dead and dying dogs, one woman said to me on an abuse case I went out on, “I never hurt any dogs, I love my babies. The fact is I protect them.” Conditions often become extreme before law enforcement officials can glean enough evidence for a search warrant. “The biggest problem is they are never allowed access to the house until it becomes so severe that something tragic happens. Communities are left to cover the cost of rescuing, treating, housing, feeding, and in some cases euthanizing the animals. Additional financial costs for incarceration and public defenders add to the burden. Although the case of a dog being violently killed is shocking, in animal hoarding cases the suffering can be felt by hundreds of animals for months and months on end.
source: petabuse.com