Animal Hoarders Shouldn't Be Treated Like Criminals

"What is animal hoarding and what is the difference between animal hoarding and animal cruelty?"

According to American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) animal cruelty is "Animal cruelty occurs when someone intentionally injures or harms an animal or when a person willfully deprives an animal of food, water or necessary medical care. "

For reasons the Psychological and Social Worker community is still trying to understand why people hoard. After cleaning out and seeing 100's of animal hoarding situations there is a tendency to look at hoarders as mean horrible people. Although puppy mills and other similar institutions prove the ASPCA definition of animal cruelty, hoarding should be categorized in a separate category.

If you read enough articles on animal hoarding you will see that many of these "animal hoarding" situations may be animal cruelty, but the intent of why the animal cruelty occurs may set them in a different sector. Like people who murder or mistreat others who are considered under a mental category and treated differently then cold blooded killers, hoarders should be categorized in the same way. When hoarders are "caught" instead of penalizing them with animal cruelty, animal hoarders should be considered with animal cruelty with a mental disorder and help the animals and the animal hoarder at the same time.

The question is how does the SPCA and therapists solve and prevent the illness from re effecting animals again.

Those with hoarding issues seem to "re- hoard after they have paid their fine or have gone through the legal process.

When I watch the ASPCA react to an animal hoarding situation, they seem to go into the hoarding situation like commando's to retrieve the animals.

I applaud their actions, but would like to see better handing of the situation. Here are my suggestions:

Contact hoarding specialists and have them join in with " SWAT " team when rescuing the animals.

Keep the whole mission " secretive" as possible. Making the rescue a media circus upsets the hoarder and the neighborhood. If we are going to prevent the hoarder from re hoarding, then getting the hoarder on the side of the helpers is key. Creating a trust with the hoarder will assist in making it easier to find lost animals in the home ( and other unknown areas ) and easier for the homeowner to work with mental health professionals.

With the condition that animal rescuers will change their mind set ( and I understand where they are coming from ), I think it is equally fair that hoarders should be monitored regularly. Scheduled visitation and the legal reporting to authorities by the animal hoarder should be mandated by law.

Jeffrey Cohn
SI Restoration
IICRC certified
http://www.si-restoration.com/
Stericlean Certified Hoarding Specialist
1-800-356-0484
410-458-5371 ( cell )

Original article