After spending all day yesterday in Southern California, figuring out ways to salvage a hoarding case involving a lot of goats, some cattle, a few pigs, a couple horses, donkey and a buttload of chickens, here is my advice: If you ever notice your neighbor amassing a large number of animals and keeping them in small dry lots, please report them. Do it until something happens. Try to get the person help, and if not, try to get the animals help.
Hoarding is a symptom of a serious psychological disorder, as yet to be named and only recently really recognized.
The person involved is unable to harm any animals at this point. I'd like to go into details, but I cannot.
But we're stuck dealing with the aftermath. We don't have to be, of course, our sanctuary is hours away in northern California and we have animals to care for as well. After meeting the animals, seeing the devastatingly sad property, we will help. It just sucks any of us are in this position - it should never have come to this.
3 comments:
It sounds so sad. I've heard they start because they want to help the animals, but then because it's an illness it gets out of control. Good luck!
I've heard that hoarding is a type of obsessive compulsive disorder.
@Schwang: I would agree. This person is unstable and has other psychological (and legal) problems as well.
@YesBiscuit!: I would not be surprised. The person also collected old cars and their house was full of a lot of, well, junk. It was practically uninhabitable. Very sad.
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