What is an animal hoarder?
By definition hoarding means to compulsively amass specific items with a degree of secrecy around the collection. With regard to animals, I would add that when an individual loses the ability to properly care for and manage their pets and continues to acquire more or allows them to multiply, this is when the hoarding starts.
Ms Gardiner's neighbours' may have preferred her to have kept the cats a little more secretly as living next door to 25 of them soon turns everyone else's backyards into a giant litter box. Surrounding pets also have very little chance of relaxing in their own properties.
Another hoarding story: Shore woman forced to surrender 50 cats
A much worse case of animal hoarding came to light in December last year when North Shore woman Tatyana Kondratyeva was made to surrender 50 cats to the SPCA and banned from owning animals for ten years. Prior to court action the woman refused to part with her cats despite many suffering from serious illness and the house she shared with them literally overflowing with cat faeces. The homes fridge and freezer contained the bodies of 38 cats.
I'm certain that Ms Averil and Ms Kondratyeva did not get all their cats at once; perhaps what started as caring for a few strays gradually overwhelmed them. For some well meaning individuals, a hobby, cause or even a passion can slowly evolve into something more sinister. Living conditions for both the animals and the hoarder become dangerously unsanitary and attempts to intervene are often met with anger and denial. One example from the United States depicts a woman standing amongst dead and dying dogs proclaiming that they are her 'babies' and she loves them.
Commonalities amongst animal hoarders may include social isolation, mental health challenges and a belief that nobody else could care for their animals properly. There is also the inability to acknowledge the plight of animals in their care or to ask for help.
Animal hoarding is most commonly associated with cats, though SPCA Auckland CEO Christine Kalin mentions a local case a few years back that involved 400 guinea pigs.
"The doors and windows of the house were kept shut to hide the extent of the problem, as you can imagine the real victims in this situation were the animals. We removed all of the animals to ensure their welfare"
Ms Kalin also has the following to say about animal hoarding; "All animal owners or people in charge of animals have a duty of care to provide adequate food, water, and shelter.
"They are also responsible for ensuring that all the animals under their care receive appropriate treatment for any medical condition.
"Lastly, animals must be allowed to be in an environment where they can express normal patterns of behaviour. This is often where animal hoarders fail to provide what the animals require, due to the confinement and density of animals in a contained area."
What you can do
If you suspect an individual has become overwhelmed by the volume of animals they possess and you are concerned about their welfare, there are some courses of action available.
The SPCA will usually be your first port of call who will then undertake an assessment to determine the health and wellbeing of the animals involved. Appropriate action is then taken, from providing education and support to owners through to immediate intervention and court action.
Where bylaws state maximum numbers of pets, this can be enforced by council when a complaint is received. Similarly if other people's pets are causing an environmental nuisance, animal control officers are able to act.
The welfare of animals subjected to cruelty is paramount, whether that cruelty is intentional or not, however, spare a thought for hoarders themselves as they may be just as vulnerable as the animals they believe they are helping.
