Animal Hoarders Are "Passive" Abusers

According to The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium, an independent group of academic researchers based in Massachusetts, animal hoarder is defined as someone who as more than the typical number of companion animals; who has an inability to provide minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter and veterinary care, which often results in starvation, illness and death; and who denies his or her inability to provide this minimum care and the impact of that failure on the animals, the household and human occupants of the dwelling. The inside of the individual’s home is usually covered in animal waste, trash, and sometimes even rotting animal carcasses.

Although it is not clearly understood why people become animal hoarders, let there be no doubt about it: Animal hoarding is a form of animal abuse. Passive cruelty. Some hoarding begins  after the individual experiences a traumatic event. Some hoarders think they are “rescuers” who save animals from a life on the street, yet their well-meaning intentions and irrational behavior are the causes of suffering to the large numbers of animals in their care. The “hoarder” can no longer take care of herself, much less multiple animals.

Usually, the animals are too unsocialized or too old and sick to be considered adoptable. Because they are not good candidates for adoption, their fate usually involves humane euthanasia.


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