I’ll admit that I don’t like to throw anything away. It doesn’t matter if I haven’t used it in 5 years because you never can be too sure about when you are going to need a broken fly swatter. That was a joke, (kind of), but it made me think about all the animals that are treated as collections.
Scientifically they are known as animal hoarders but most people call them “that crazy dog (or cat) lady”.
Randall Lockwood of the Humane Society says, “Hoarding is very often a symptom of a greater mental illness, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. For most hoarders, it is likely that their actions are the result of a true pathology, even though they are still usually able to function quite well in society.”
One definition of an animal hoarder is someone who has more animals than they could possibly care for however he or she will deny that the animals are being neglected.
According to The Humane Society of The United States, “Many hoarders have an uncanny ability to attract sympathy for themselves, no matter how abused their animals may be, which is often how hoarders manage to fool others into thinking the situation is under control.”
I think that the people who do this start off with good intentions; they want to help animals, but it somehow gets out of control. That’s sad because animals deserve to live in clean and sanitary environments. And when one person has 20 or 30 dogs keeping everything orderly becomes extremely difficult. Food and veterinary costs also have to be considered. And what about attention; how can one person possibly give enough attention to 30 dogs on a daily basis?
On the other hand, the phrase “animal hoarder” sounds so harsh. If it is a medical condition then these people shouldn’t be looked down upon because they just need a little help recognizing their problem and correcting it.