Friday, January 14, 2011

Confessions: Animal Hoarding

ETA: Well, disappointing barely describes what Animal Planet just did. I'll talk about it later, after the sanctuary comes up with some sort of game plan. 

At the risk of embarrassing myself or alienating some of my less "animal righty" readers, I wanted to let you know that the organization I work for will be seen rescuing 140 chickens from a hoarder featured on the show. You might even see me. If you do, YOU MUST SAY I WAS AWESOME. Otherwise, keep it to yourself.

The show is called Confessions: Animal Hoarding and will be on Animal Planet at 7pm pacific, 10 pm eastern time.

I am not sure what classifies a person as a hoarder. Some of the people featured on the Animal Planet show range from having 15 dogs to 85 cats...or 140 chickens in an urban neighborhood. They all seem like people trying to fill a void in their lives but not all seem mentally incompetent. Compared to the people featured on A&E's Hoarders, the Animal Planet people seem almost angelic. Almost.

The man with the chickens. I don't know what to say about him, as a person he was nice enough. It was surreal to walk into a home that reeked of chicken feces, to learn three rooms were converted to "chicken rooms" and hadn't been cleaned in years, to walk outside and see a completely dessicated kitten enmeshed in wire and rats the size of small dogs running wild and fearless.

He gave them food and water.

The outdoor birds had acceptable sized enclosures.

He cared deeply about these birds. Love does not = ability to properly care for another living being.

Those are the only positives. Some might even say that we should have left the birds there. I cannot argue verbally, but I know one walk through of that home would convince most nay-sayers. Those left unconvinced must have very low levels of acceptable standards of health and hygiene.


Also. No comments about eating chickens as being awesome. I will delete your comment, even if I like you. Pretend these chickens are dogs and thus deserve compassion and rehoming.


ANYWAY, NATIONAL TELEVISION HERE I MAYBE COME!

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