We’ve seen it time and time again. The elderly lady with 50 cats in her home. The couple with three dozen small dogs kept in cages throughout the house. Horses packed in a corral with inadequate food, water, or shelter. Too many dogs, too many cats, or too many horses.
What these scenarios may all have in common is something called “the collector phenomenon.” This is when people collect living creatures without regard to their proper care. It’s as if the people collecting the animals cannot see the horrible conditions in which the animals are kept. Not, “refuse to see,” but actually, “cannot” see. Like the anorexic who looks in the mirror during his or her illness and sees not protruding bone, but fat where none exits, the animal collector looks upon their horde and sees happy, healthy animals regardless of the reality of the situation. It is an illness, recognized by the American Psychiatric Association as being related to Addiction and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. It is a true psychiatric condition that is often misunderstood.
Animal collectors don’t understand why the authorities are notified and why people are upset. Many collectors really cannot see that the animals in their care are undernourished, sick, or receiving inadequate shelter from the elements. From their point of view, they are caring properly for the animals. They are truly distressed when the animals are removed because they may feel that no one can take care of the animals as well as they have been caring for them. Even when the animals in their care are dead, diseased, emaciated, and living in filth, the collectors will insist that the animals are loved and well-cared for.
“This is a true pathology,” states Randall Lockwood, PhD., from The Humane Society of the United States. “Very few collector cases simply involve good intentions gone awry. This is evident to anyone witnessing the level of filth and decay in which these animals are kept and their often advanced state of malnutrition, parasite infection, and disease..”
“Many collectors have enablers helping them and making excuses for the conditions in which the animals are kept”, states Humane Officer Cindy Machado, an expert in Animal Collectors from the Marin Humane Society in Novato, California. “In the cases involving so called “rescues,” where animals are collected in what are self-described “animal sanctuaries,” many supporters will state “if only the rescue had more money,” or, “These people are truly doing the best that they can under the circumstances.” But it doesn’t matter what the circumstances are or what the intentions may be. It doesn’t matter if the animal number is 1, 100, or 1000. If the animal is not receiving proper care, the situation should be recognized and the animals relinquished to those that can care for them. Anything else is criminal and should be looked upon as such. The collectors may indeed be sick, but it doesn’t change the level of suffering that the animal endures.”
Treatment, or Prosecution?
Fort Collins, Colorado psychologist Dr. Barry Lindstrom states, “If this is truly a case of mental illness then the person responsible needs help. It is all well and good that the animals are being cared for when an intervention takes place, but we have to remember that the individual responsible needs help too. They are doing this for a reason – loss, trauma, mental illness. They need help as well. Psychotherapy and/or medication. They need something, and if their needs are not addressed then they will go back to the hoarding pattern as soon as is possible.”
Officer Machado: “It’s a delicate balance. Prosecution takes a tremendous toll on all involved. It’s costly, with animals needing to be cared for, housed and fed while the case goes through the system. This can take months, sometimes years. But it is necessary in order to have a say in what the collector is able to do in the future.”
Unfortunately, the recidivism (relapse) rate of animal collectors is quite high. Insuring that the collector won’t go out and simply acquire more animals when current animals are removed usually requires a cooperative effort between animal welfare agencies and the court or law enforcement system. Requirements for probation should include full access by humane officers or law enforcement to inspect premises at any time with the understanding that any unauthorized animals found, regardless of conditions, will be seized. Other requirements should include the sterilization of any remaining animals and the reimbursement to responding agencies any veterinary costs and board fees for seized animals.
What it comes down to is that the collector, although professing to caring for the animals and taking care of their needs is in reality only fulfilling their own needs -- appeasing their addiction, their desire to control, and their obsession with keeping animals. These people live in a very altered state of reality. It is unfortunate that the animals in their care must live in it with them.
