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.
