Alabama Animal Advocates

Animal Hoarding

Animal hoarding is a national problem. The reaction of most people to these situations is anger. How can we not be angry about a situation so out of hand that people and animals live in filth and animals are left to die? How could they be so heartless and care so little for their companion animals? Why didn’t they reach out for help?

Animal hoarding more often than not results in abuse, suffering, and death of animals. It is criminal. It does not, however, happen in a vacuum. Someone knows what is going on, even if they don’t do anything to intervene.

Chihuahua sitting in front of cage.

What is Animal Hoarding?

Animal hoarding is NOT just having a lot of animals. The criteria of animal hoarding also includes inadequately caring for those animals and denying the problem and/or resisting assistance. Animal hoarding is sometimes called “Noah syndrome” or referred to as “collecting animals,” which is an prior, broader term.

Hoarding is a manifestation of a mental distortion “characterized by an exaggerated need to control, an exaggerated sense of responsibility, and intense emotional attachments,” according to a Psychiatric Times examination.

A managed scenario may descent into hoarding upon an emotional, physical, or financial catalyst such as the death of a loved one, an illness or injury to the caretaker, or the loss of a job. Neglect extends beyond the animals to the person, others living in the house, and the house itself. Animals may accumulate passively, such as because sterilization is unaffordable, or actively, because the person can’t bear the thought of a dog being killed at the shelter or kittens alone on the street. The situation continues when owners do not seek help and hide the problem due to self-judgment and to avoid of the judgment of others. This disconnect from reality can deepen when the owners resist acknowledging the suffering of the animals that they intended to save.

Though there are patterns, narrow stereotypes of who hoards can limit the ability to recognize and address hoarding situations. Singles and couples, male and female, professional and retired, wealthy and poor people have all been known to hoard — even veterinarians and credentialed nonprofit rescue organizations can lose the ability to care for the animals in their charge. In around half of hoarding situations, at least one other person, such as a dependent adult or child, also lives at the house.

Hoarding situations typically only worsen as the caretaker becomes increasingly overwhelmed. Since hoarders, by definition, deny the problem, only when reported, such as by a neighbor, family member, delivery driver, or emergency personnel, can help be provided to the animals and the people in the household. However, removing the animals does not solve the mental distortions: recidivism is thought to approach 100% unless other safeguards are put in place, the most important of which include court-ordered monitoring by officers over the following years, a possession ban or sterilization of any animals allowed to remain, and psychological counseling.

“In terms of the number of animals affected and the degree and duration of their suffering, hoarding is the number one animal cruelty crisis facing companion animals in communities throughout the country,” according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund. The organization estimates that up to 250,000 animals per year are victims of hoarding.

How Hoarding Effects Animals, Humans, and Communities

Animals recovered from hoarding situations exhibit some combination of health problems, malnourishment, behavioral issues, and birth defects from inbreeding. Usually, one or more dead animals are found, and in most cases some of the living animals are euthanized due to the severity of their condition and/or are put to death when their care or recovery is viewed as unattainable. Cats and dogs are the most common species affected by hoarding.

Where animals are neglected, the people and house are neglected also. This includes self-neglect of the caretaker and neglect of dependent adults and children, who are all affected by dangerous levels of fecal matter, ammonia, trash, and vermin. Studies have found that houses where animals are hoarded usually lack basic functionality, such as to shower, sleep in a bed, or prepare food, and many are condemned. Residents may have serious respiratory issues, and the risk of zoonotic diseases extends into the neighborhood.

Impacts on the larger community are also significant, including the cost of the investigation (such as documentation of each animal’s condition by a veterinarian), treatment of illness and injury, sheltering expenses, kennel space, and resources and costs borne by nonprofit rescue groups which take in animals. Post-intervention impacts on the animal and the community can be minimized when charges are filed under § 13A-11-241 rather than § 13A-11-14.

Signs of Hoarding

The following may be red flags that someone is hoarding animals:

If you genuinely believe someone you know is an animal hoarder, whether you are related to them or not, immediately take action to try to prevent the situation from getting worse.

How to Report Animal Hoarding

If you are in the animal rescue or animal welfare community, please take time to learn about how mental health issues affect how people care for their animals or fail to care for them. Animal hoarding is a real mental condition about which you need to know if you really want to help animals. Harsh judgment of hoarding is unfortunately common, and only compounds the compulsion to hide the situation and resist assistance.

Consider establishing a Hoarding Task Force to help address potential hoarding situations using the expertise of mental health professionals, law enforcement professionals, and members of the animal sheltering and rescue community. This approach is akin to a shift in some law enforcement agencies from treating every law enforcement encounter with the pubic as a criminal matter and instead using mental health liaisons to resolve situations to avoid incarceration.

For more information about hoarding, including legal considerations, see Animal Hoarding in Depth.