Animal Hoarding Essay

Animal hoarding is a very common issue, and is not being reported the way that it should be. These situations need to stop being overlooked and dealt with correctly, not only to save the animals’ lives, but to keep the owner and their family in wellbeing. Animals are very important and should be taken care of very well. When they are put into a hoarding situation they cannot go out and get the help that they need. We need to be their voice and speak up for them. It is necessary to learn the signs and behaviors of animal hoarding.

Animal hoarding is when an individual has a large number of animals that he or she may not be able to take care of. The life that these animals are living can cause serious illness and even death. The

There is no specific reason as to why people do it, but there are factors that may lead to a person becoming an animal hoarder. If someone, for instance, has gone through a very traumatic event in their life they may find a way to cope by being with an animal or two. As time goes on that animal or two becomes twenty, twenty-five, and even more in some cases. If a person has an attachment disorder of some kind and is not treated properly it can lead to a case of animal hoarding. They will become overly attached and will believe that they need more around them at all times. Paranoia, depression, and delusional thinking are just some of the many mental illnesses that have been linked to animal hoarding

It is an obsession and a disease. This is why animal hoarding needs to be taken more seriously. 250,000 animals fall captive to animal hoarding each year (ASPCA.org). It is not only the life of the animal we are looking at, it is the life of a person as well. If animal hoarding continues to go unnoticed many more animals’ lives will be put in danger. The person may be to blame, but in many cases, it is all they know, it is how they cope, it is how they fill a void that has been left empty for many years. This is so much more than people think. It goes deeper than most people think. There is a mental aspect to this that no one wants to look and see. People need the help, and in order for them to get that, the animal hoarding needs to be identified. A very popular case of animal hoarding is the case that involved Vikki Kittles. The case happened in the year of 1985. It may be an older case, but it gives many examples as to why animal hoarding needs to be taken seriously, and why more people should be educated on the subject. In the year of 1985 Vikki Kittles’ neighbor had called the police complaining of an awful stench coming from her Vikki’s house. When the cops arrived, they had found 35 dogs, three cats, and two horses living in the house with Vikki and her 75-year-old mother (aldf.org). She claimed that these horses were in the house because she believed that the “enemy” was trying to poison them.