WHAT IS AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR/HOARDER?

" A person who amasses more animals than he/she can properly take care for. Such individuals generally fail to recognize - or refuse to acknowledge - when the animals in their custody become victims of gross neglect..."
MENTAL DISORDER
SOURCE: Adapted from "Animal Sheltering Magazine,"
July/August 1999.
Wisconsin House Rabbit News.
"The compulsive collecting of animals is an under-recognized mental health problem. ... Caring for these confiscated animals, which are often in poor health, places a huge, unexpected drain on limited rescuer resources..."

SOURCE: www.metroactive.com.
By Kelly Luker.
"Kindly eccentrics who feed hundreds of 'pets' may be suffering from a recently identified mental disorder which causes them, literally, to love their animals to death and later deny it..."

SOURCE: http://www.Salon.com.
By Chris Colin.
"Animal hoarders think they're helping their furry friends, but mostly they're just feeding their own twisted psyches..."

Characteristics
SOURCE: In: Health& Social Work, Volume 27, pp.125- 136. May 2002.
"Abstract: Animal Hoarding is a poorly understood phenomenon the public health implications of which are not well documented. In this study, professionals with with hoarding cases submitted 71 case report forms. The hoarder's residences were characterized by extreme clutter and poor sanitation that impaired ability to maintain functional households..."
Excuses
SOURCE: In: Health& Social Work, Volume 27, pp.125- 136. May 2002.
"Abstract: Animal Hoarding is a poorly understood phenomenon the public health implications of which are not well documented. In this study, professionals with with hoarding cases submitted 71 case report forms. The hoarder's residences were characterized by extreme clutter and poor sanitation that impaired ability to maintain functional households..."
Loving Animals to Death
SOURCE: From Animal Issues, Volume 30, Number 2. Summer 1999.
By Tina Perry.
"The animal "collector," sometimes known as a "hoarder," is a familiar person to us all. These "animal lovers" reside in almost every community throughout the United States, if not the world. You may even know someone like this, a person who tends to keep to themselves, someone who is always available to rescue a stray dog, cat or any animal in need. This may seem to be a selfless act of kindness until you enter the mind and home of a true animal collector..."