25% of Animal Hoarders Were Rescuers

by Dr. Chris

September 3, 2010 According to the ASPCA, of over 6,000 new hoarding cases are reported each year, up to 25% of them involve pet rescuers. Dr. Randall Lockwood, who works for the ASPCA anti-cruelty division, said that this figure has grown dramatically over the years.

While most pet rescues are well operated, a growing number of them become chronic animal hoarders, which leads to a large number of animal welfare and animal cruelty problems.

Animal hoarders take in way too many pets and can't properly care for them.

The prime example is Linda Bruno. Which ran a cat rescue in Pennsylvania. According to police investigators, Linda Bruno had taken in over 7000 cats into her rescue in just the last 14 months. But when her house was raided, they only found 23 cats that were alive, and thousands of cat bones in what appears to be a mass grave.

While animal hoarding is not a crime, it can become a crime when the pets become to much to properly care for, and it turns into an animal welfare issue.

Some characteristics of animal hoarders may include problems with dementia, attachment disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and addiction. There may also be many other psychological problems that we are not aware of yet.

For more on the Lisa Bruno case check out this: AP story

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