ANIMALS ARE NOT OURS

Hoarding: A Cruel Compulsion

Animal hoarders are not merely people who have a few too many animals – they are individuals whose mental illness or compulsion can cause criminal behaviour with horrific consequences for animals, the hoarders’ families and their communities. Hoarders exist in virtually every community and include members of every socio-economic status, gender and education level. An increasingly common and disturbing trend involves hoarders who operate under the guise of being “shelters” or “rescues”. Hundreds of sick, starved, wounded, dying and dead animals have been found in raids of such institutional hoarding facilities. 

There are three characteristics of hoarding behaviour agreed upon by experts and seen in nearly every case of hoarding:

• Hoarders amass a large number of animals.
• Hoarders fail to provide for animals’ physical and social needs, including food, water, veterinary care and sanitary living conditions.
• Hoarders offer excuses for, or deny, the abysmal living conditions of their animals and, in some cases, their children.

Hoarders often confine animals to tiny cages or crates that are stacked on top of each other. Accumulated faeces and urine – which often cover every surface in hoarders’ residences – can create dangerously high ammonia levels, which can burn skin, eyes and lungs. Parasite infestations and disease outbreaks spread quickly in these crowded conditions. Food and water are usually inadequate – if they are provided at all.

“Anyone  who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives.”

– Dr Albert Schweitzer, humanitarian

Source: https://www.peta.org.uk/