Animal hoarding is keeping a large number of animals as pets without having the ability to properly care for them, while at the same time denying this inability. Compulsive hoarding can be characterized as a symptom of mental disorder rather than deliberate cruelty towards animals. But it usually ends up with the pets being harmed due to the inability to properly care for them. Hoarders are deeply attached to their pets and find it hard to let the pets go. They usually don't understand that they're hurting them and they usually believe that they're providing the right amount of care for their pets.Health effect on the animals
There are many health effects that animal hoarding can cause. The failure to provide basic care for their animals results in disease and often death. The most common health issues involved are malnourishment, overcrowding, and neglect. Consequences of hoarding are long lasting and continue to affect the animals even after they have been rescued and provided with better care.
Lack of food and water is common in animal hoarding. The consequence of this is starvation and death. Malnourishment also increases diseases and the animals are often in advanced stages of sickness. Plus, when there's not much food, animals may resort to aggressive behavior in competing for the little amount food.
Overcrowding is also an animal health problem in hoarding situations. The number of animals found in hoarding cases range from dozens to several hundreds, and even to over thousands of animals. Animals are confined to houses and this leads to lack of living space and spreading diseases.
Neglect is another huge effect on these animals. Lack of veterinary care is one the most neglected things. This is because the owner refuses to acknowledge the bad health conditions of their animals and are scared they will be forced to give up custody of them. As a result, diseases are left untreated and become worse. Poor sanitary conditions for the animals also come with neglect. To add to that, animals suffer from a lack of socialization caused by an absence of normal interaction with other animals.
Health effect on humans
Animal hoarding also causes many health problems for the people involved. Common health problems include poor sanitation, fire hazards and zoonotic diseases.
The first issue is how unsatinary animal hoarding can be. The animal's wastes will be riddled all over the house. In addition to severe odors that people dislike, animal waste creates serious health risks through the spread of parasites and high ammonia levels. A high ammonia level is life threatening to humans. The animal's waste also puts residents at risk of getting food related illnesses and parasites. Insect and rodent infestation can follow and worsen hoarding conditions.
Hoarders usually collect large numbers of objects in addition to animals, making less space. The clutter takes away movement around the house and gives a higher risk of accidents. Fire hazards are another problem. The clutter prevents a fire escape plan and serves as fuel to fire.
Another human health issue is the risk of zoonotic diseases. Zoonotic diseases are human diseases transmitted to any other vertebrate animal. It's common for domesticated animals carry zoonotic diseases and humans involved in animal hoarding situations are at a big risk of catching one. Zoonotic diseases that may come from animal hoarding situations include rabies, salmonellosis, catscratch fever, hookworm, and ringworm.
In my opinion, it's sad that people face this terrible mental health issue. It's also sad for the animals. I wish these people would get help but sadly they can't see the pain they're causing to themselves, other people and these poor animals. It's unbelievable to think some people own over a thousand animals especially in such poor conditions. Animal hoarding can be compared to puppy farms but I think animal hoarding has more emotions behind it because the owners think they're doing good. Also, animal farms only have these animals for the money. I hope one day the people who are affected by this will seek help.
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_hoarding
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/animal-hoarding-1.900744
