HEALTH
Before the early 1990s, almost no research existed on hoarding. Now there are cable TV series exploring the mysterious behavior disorder.
Some people cope with stress and loneliness by eating or drinking too much. Others self-medicate with animals – too many animals.
People who hoard animals have personality traits found in those with more familiar addictive behaviors, animal welfare experts say. But treating compulsive hoarding can be a long, difficult process that criminal charges alone wont change, they add.
This is not normal behavior, nationally recognized animal hoarding expert Dr. Gary Patronek told more than 200 people including social workers, public safety and animal welfare workers attending the first Bucks County Animal Hoarding Task Force Symposium Wednesday.
Nationally, compulsive hoarding – an uncontrollable need to accumulate possessions in amounts that interfere with normal daily living – has gained more attention recently with several TV programs and documentary films exploring the personality disorder.
Many aspects of hoarding remain a mystery including how widespread the disorder is, said symposium speakers who appeared at Bucks County Community College in Newtown Township.
There are no large, long-term studies on hoarding. Before the early 1990s, almost no research existed on the subject. The best expert guess is that about one-third of compulsive hoarding cases involve animals.
The lack of information about the disorder isnt surprising since hoarders are notoriously secretive. Their living situation typically surfaces only after neighbors complain or a medical emergency occurs. Some of the worst cases in the US have involved hundreds of animals.
The Bucks County SPCA investigates and intervenes in several cases of animal hoarding, which can include individuals, self-described breeders and people who say they run animal sanctuaries.
Most recently in May, the agency removed 52 cats, nearly all Persians and Himalayans, from a Lower Makefield home of a woman who was described as a breeder but who could not properly take care of them anymore due to medical problems.
The county task force was formed last year following what the Bucks County SPCA described as the largest puppy mill operation in recent history.
In March 2009, 46 Yorkshire terriers were found in the basement of an abandoned Upper Makefield home in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions. The dogs were rescued and adopted and their owner pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and running an unlicensed kennel.
The county task force says its goal is to create a countywide protocol system for handing cases involving animal hoarding.
Since many different agencies might need to become involved in a case, local officials hope the conference provides more local agencies with new resources, particularly for the behavioral health system, which plays a critical role in the rehabilitation of hoarders.
Patronek, vice president for animal welfare of the Animal Rescue League of Boston, has studied animal hoarding behavior for more than 20 years.
His first experience involved a mother and daughter living with more than 80 cats and dogs in conditions so deplorable that animal rescue workers wore masks inside the home to breathe.