When Is A Rescuer A Hoarder?

[Calliegirl]

This is a pretty good article from Los Angeles magazine on rescue hoarders.

Staff at Frontier Veterinary Clinic in Cheyenne, Wyoming, sensed that something was wrong as soon as they met the woman driving the white pickup with California plates. It was a cool May day in 2014, and she wore a down jacket over her pale blue tracksuit. Kimi Peck had called earlier, asking to get rabies shots for 20 dogs—a strange request in itself—but when she opened the jury-rigged plywood door of the camping trailer she was pulling, there were close to 60 animals inside: Chihuahuas, terrier and border collie mixes, pit bulls, an Australian shepherd, a saluki, and a shaggy Great Pyrenees. Some ran loose; others were in rows of stacked animal crates. The trailer was wet with urine. It stank.

She was part of a rescue operation, Peck explained, and en route to a sanctuary in Utah. The story made no sense. Peck looked worn and wan; her hands were twisted with arthritis. What rescue would send someone like this to drive a load of unvaccinated dogs through the harsh emptiness of the West?...

When Is A Rescuer A Hoarder? - Los Angeles Magazine

 

[Poppy]

Wow. What an incredible and horrifying story. I've been involved in a handful of hoarding situations, but nothing near the craziness of Kimi Peck. It's awful that her mental illness hurts so many animals.

 

[Tom L.]

I would say the answer is: when they have rescued too many animals for them to care for properly- or, I suppose, when they have so many animals that their OWN wellbeing is severely threatened.

The thing is, it can't really be defined as a certain number of animals. I know people who effectively care for more animals than I could, and there are probably people who think I once came dangerously close to that line (if I hadn't actually gone over it! This was when my animal companions totaled nine: three cats, two rabbits, and four gerbils.)

There are different factors to consider. I think dogs generally need more individual attention than cats or rabbits, but cats and rabbits need plenty of attention too... and there is one other complication: cats and rabbits are notorious about not showing outward signs of illness until that illness is quite advanced. It can be far too easy to miss signs of illness in one rabbit or cat out of many.

 

[Moll Flanders]

Very sad and shocking.

I didn't really understand hoarding until I saw some of those US programmes about the condition, it seems like some hoarders have been severely affected by a major loss like a bereavement.

 

[GingerFoxx]

I would say the line between rescuer and hoarder is drawn at the point where the caregiver's resources (time, money, space, etc.) are not sufficient to give all the animals in their care a proper quality of life. This includes feeding, socializing, medical care and matters of hygiene for all parties involved, human or otherwise.

 

[beancounter]

When the person can't afford to properly take care of all the animals they have.