When The Love For Pets Crosses The Line (a Youtube)
AnimalCare 
Mar 5, 2012 
AnimalCare, NGOs 
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A reader shared this:
It is about an animal hoarder who had 21 pets (I think our hoarders here are worse in terms of the number of animals). She underwent treatment and now only has 7 pets (4 cats and 3 dogs).
Excerpts:
It was sometime after she said on camera that her animals were more important to her than her husband that the woman identified only as “Robin” began to realize she had a problem.
“If I’m going to choose between my animals and my husband, I would pick the animals,” Robin told a film crew from Animal Planet that came to record her life for a new series called “Animal Hoarders.” Although she had 21 animals — dogs, cats and even birds — and just one husband, Robin didn’t see this as a problem.
How many hoard?
There are no firm statistics on animal hoarding, and no laws governing the number of pets a person can have in the United States. Those hoarders who end up in the criminal justice system are generally prosecuted for health violations or animal cruelty.
Animal Planet cites estimates of about 250,000 animals that are the victims of hoarders each year. The vast majority of hoarders are female, the show reports, and most also hoard other things.
The psychiatrist says…
Cassiday said hoarders, like other addicts, are always in danger of relapsing.
“Unfortunately, without treatment, 100 percent of animal hoarders relapse,” the therapist said. “It’s necessary to get treatment, to not just bring them to the attention of the criminal system, but to understand they’re people with needs. Most hoarders have been through traumatic or distressing life experiences that initiated or exacerbated their hoarding, and we need to address those issues.”
We seem to be dealing with a different kind of hoarding over here. From the youtube above, hoarding seems to be just keeping many animals (not knowing when to stop) but the animals are well looked after.
Over here, similarly, there is a case where a woman took in so many dogs and cats until her entire family left her, but the animals are well looked after. However, there is also the hoarder who keeps taking in animals AND does not look after them at all (like the one who is now applying for our help). We wish there were laws against such practices as it is tantamount to cruelty. But here’s the dilemma, one could report her to the DVS, and the DVS would issue warnings. If she fails to abide by them, the animals will be confiscated and ultimately euthanised. At the end of the day, because of human cruelty towards animals, the animals are killed. Whither justice? Whither humanity? So, who dares to report?
We wish there were laws where the human who commits such cruelty would be punished and the animal-victims sent to a sanctuary where they would be cared for properly and lovingly. But there are no such sanctuaries (like orphanages) or rather, there are, but there are not enough for these places.
So, it all boils back down to the question of what on earth are we to do with these hoarders who don’t look after their animals?
Education?
I suppose so. It’s a long shot, but looks like that’s the most humane option (to the animals).
Source: http://myanimalcare.org/2012/03/05/when-love-for-pets-crosses-the-line-a-youtube/
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