Animal hoarding

From Free net encyclopedia

Animal hoarding is a human behaviour that involves the keeping of higher than typical numbers of animals as pets without having the ability to properly house or care for them, while at the same time denying this inability [1]. Along with other compulsive hoarding behaviours, it is linked in the DSM-IV to obsessive-compulsive disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder [2].

Animal hoarding is also a serious animal cruelty issue, affecting up to a quarter-million animals—mostly dogs and cats—in communities nationwide. [3] Hoarders keep abnormally large numbers of animals for whom they do not provide even the most basic care. The sometimes hundreds of dogs or cats kept by a single hoarder generally show signs of abuse such as severe malnutrition, untreated medical conditions including open sores, cancers, and advanced dental and eye diseases, and severe psychological distress. In 80 percent of the cases studied, authorities found either dead or severely ill animals in hoarders' homes. [4]

Animal hoarding is also a public health threat, as hoarding creates highly unsanitary conditions on the properties of hoarders.

1 Legal Solutions
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit]

Legal Solutions

Many states have no legal definition for animal hoarding,, and many people are unfamiliar with the severity of neglect in hoarding situations. The high cost of caring for animals rescued from hoarders, who often must be cared for at the rescuer’s expense, can also act as a disincentive for prosecuting hoarding cases. These factors contribute to a lengthy and challenging legal process in securing a verdict against an animal hoarder charged with animal cruelty.

In 2005, the Animal Legal Defense Fund won a significant legal victory in the Sanford, North Carolina case ALDF v. Woodley. [5] A unique North Carolina state law allows any person or organization to sue an animal abuser. [6] In April 2005, the judge in the case granted an injunction allowing ALDF and county authorities to remove more than 300 diseased, neglected and abused dogs from the home of Sanford residents Barbara and Robert Woodley. ALDF was granted custody of the animals, and the hoarders were found guilty of animal cruelty charges. ALDF subsequently won the right to restrict the hoarder’s visitation rights while the dogs remained in custody during ongoing appeals.[7]

[edit]