Elders Hoarding Animals Need Help

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published an article, dated December 10, 2007, entitled "Animal hoarders proving difficult to contain", by Linda Wilson Fuoco, which highlighted a significant problem.

The article mentioned a profile of an "animal hoarder": a person over 60 years old who lives alone & has very little income, but who keeps multiple pets in an unhealthy environment.

What is "animal hoarding", and how did this profile evolve?

Wikipedia describes "animal hoarding" and its negative health effects, as follows:

[T]he “pathological human behavior that involves a compulsive need to obtain and control animals, coupled with a failure to recognize their suffering,” is the cause of many severe health risks that threaten the hoarded animals, individuals living in hoarding residences, and surrounding neighbors.

In addition, it implicates a variety of mental health issues. The health effects of animal hoarding are widespread and detrimental to all involved. * * *

Hoarding is certainly detrimental, even fatal, to the animals kept under control. Pet-Abuse, a website dedicated to the interests of companion animals, notes the harsh realities for pets subjected to "Animal Hoarding" (using language that may be repugnant to some):

While their intentions may indeed have been good, the reality of hoarding is far from sweet, and is often quite horrific.

Hoarders often have hundreds of animals in their home, living in filth and without veterinary care. It is not uncommon to discover several hundred animals in various states of neglect at one location. It is also very common to find vast collections of other junk and garbage on the premises, as well as many layers of feces throughout the home.

In the majority of hoarding cases, the hoarder firmly believes not only that they have done nothing wrong, but that the animals cannot survive without their "care".

In many instances, hoarders will even be reluctant to relinquish the decomposing corpses of animals that died. Dead animals are frequently found in the freezer or refrigerator, or even laying around the house, embedded in the carpeting, etc. At times, dead animals have been left in the home so long that they have become mummified. * * *

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, on a web page entitled "Animal Hoarding" also explores the problem, after defining it:

Animal hoarding is a complex and intricate public health and community issue. Its effects are far-reaching and encompass mental health, animal welfare and public safety concerns.

The following criteria are used to define animal hoarding:

• More than the typical number of companion animals
• Inability to provide even minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter and veterinary care, with this neglect often resulting in starvation, illness and death
• Denial of the inability to provide this minimum care and the impact of that failure on the animals, the household and human occupants of the dwelling. * * *

That discussion also notes a link between the animal hoarding and elderly persons:

Usually, the animal hoarder is neglecting his or her own mental and physical needs and may need assistance for themselves.

Animal hoarders range in age, and can be men or women of any race or ethnic group.

Elderly people tend to be more at risk due to their own deteriorating health and isolation from community and social groups. * * *

The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium, in Massachusetts (part of the Tufts Center for Animals and Public Policy) studied the behavior. An article in the newsletter of the Adult Abuse Review, WordBridges (December, 2002; Vol. 1, Issue 3), entitled "Criminal or Savior? Animal Hoarding 101", repeated that profile of a typical animal hoarder:

HARC also found in its initial research that more than 3/4 of hoarders are female; nearly half are 60 or older; most are unmarried; half live alone and half of the households include other members (including dependent elders and children); and dead or sick animals were found in 80% of reported cases.

This research, then, was the basis of the profile repeated in the recent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article.

The article described the repulsive situation that was discovered recently in Allegheny County by investigating authorities:

It began with neighbors complaining about odors coming from the unkempt Uniontown home last month.

Humane officers donned biohazard suits and breathing masks before entering, and emerged with 14 cats, six ferrets, four rabbits, one boxer dog and one red-eared slider turtle. But inside among the feces, garbage and debris were nine dead animals, including seven cats.

Similar scenarios of animal hoarders play out about a dozen times a year in Allegheny County.

Authorities have varying opinions about not only how hoarding should be handled, but even how to define it.

A group called the Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium, affiliated with the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, Mass., has been studying the problem for 10 years. Its 2006 report estimates that as many as 250,000 animals per year are acquired by animal hoarders. * * *

The Pennsylvania Department of Aging recognizes that animal hoarding evidences not only neglect of animals by an elderly person, but also their own self-neglect. The Department offers a 14-page training manual module, "Self Neglect and Abandonment" to address it.

Other research & resources about "animal hoarding" and the elderly are listed under a heading "Adult Protective Services -- Elder Abuse" (Rev. 01/06/08), compiled by Animal Therapy Net. For another resource, see: Animal Hoarding Blog.

Beyond self-neglect, one involved in animal hoarding can be charged with a crime, the article noted. And there can be other forms of embarrassment. But, given that the behavior likely is the result of mental or physical illness, these remedies are applied judiciously:

In Pennsylvania, prosecuted hoarders are charged under Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, Title 18, Section 5511 cruelty to animals, which mandates that it is a summary offense for anyone who "wantonly or cruelly illtreats, overloads, beats ... or neglects any animal ... or deprives any animal of necessary sustenance, drink, shelter or veterinary care, or access to clean and sanitary shelter ..."

The penalty for a summary offense is a maximum fine of $750 and 90 days in jail.

Often, raids on hoarders are accompanied by the glare of TV cameras.

The Western Pennsylvania Humane Society prefers a quieter approach.

"Our initial effort is to gain their trust," Mr. Smith said. "We do not want to cause any more anxiety for them and we want to treat them with dignity. Many of them really do care about their animals and they want to say goodbye. Some of these people started out with one or two animals and it got ahead of them. Many in that situation actually thank us for helping them out." * * *

Update: 03/05/08:

The Republican & Herald (Pottsville, Schuylkill Co., PA) posted an article on February 28, 2008, entitled "Animal hoarding not rare", by Brandy Rissmiller, that describes a situation of "cat hoarding" in that county, which resulted in criminal charges.

[Animal hoarding] is not as rare as some people may think, according to a People for Ethical Treatment of Animals employee. “In many neighborhoods, people realize that the cute old cat lady isn’t as cute as suspected once the interior of her home becomes apparent,” Martin Mersereau, supervisor, PETA Emergency Response Division, Cruelty Investigations, said Wednesday.

PETA, according to its Web site, is the largest animal rights organization in the world.

The latest cat hoarding incident in Schuylkill County surfaced Feb. 15 near Auburn in West Brunswick Township when residents told authorities that their neighbor, Rita Rollman, 56, had not been seen for about a week. Rollman had been renting a home at 2256 W. Market St. for more than three years when her landlord found 52 cats — 13 of which were dead — and at least three inches of excrement on the floors of the home. * * *

The article notes that "[t]here have been four cases of animal hoarding in Schuylkill County since 2005."