Animal collectors are people that have far more animals than they can care for. Animals in their care are usually sick, malnourished and neglected. Sometimes, hundreds of animals are found living in a single home, under the care of one person that cannot meet their needs.

Pathological animal hoarding is a form of mental illness. Collectors cannot deal with the thought of animals being euthanized and they cannot comprehend that what they are doing to the animals may be worse than death. They have a need to control, and the animals give them something to control. Most will not surrender them to adoptive homes when given the option and make up excuses as to why they are the only ones with the ability to care for the animals. They tend to be very secretive about the number of animals they have and their living conditions. When discovered, some use sympathy to escape consequences for their actions. Most if not all will go back to animal collecting if they do not receive counseling and treatment.

All types of animals have been victimized by animal collectors. The most common are dogs and cats but Small mammals, birds, reptiles and even horses have also been victimized. The most common methods of acquiring the animals are picking up strays and unplanned breeding. A few collectors do deliberately breed the animals or acquire them from the public.

Animal collectors have no regard for the amount of living space an animal needs. There have been cases of as many as 400 dogs and cats living in a single home. Animals are sometimes kept in cages, others are allowed to roam free through the house or enclosure. The overcrowding leads to stress and behavioral problems. Living areas are not sanitized regularly and it’s not uncommon for floors and surfaces to be caked with urine and feces, even in food preparation areas. A high percentage of animal collectors also compulsively collect garbage and other things, so piles of garbage may be present in the living area as well. Some animal collectors are so obsessive they will not even dispose of the remains of an animal after it has died. There have been cases of animal carcasses found in the same area the live animals are kept.

Most animal collectors cannot afford to feed the animals they’ve taken in. They may have to compete with hundreds of others for food. The food and water they do get is usually inadequate, low quality and served in unsanitary conditions. As a result they suffer from malnutrition and sometimes starve to death.

A large percentage of animals found to be in a collector’s care are sick, and do not get veterinary attention at all. Most collectors cannot afford to spay or neuter a large number of animals, causing the animals to free breed and magnify the problem. Grooming is also typically neglected or nonexistent. The fur may be matted and they may suffer from rotting teeth and overgrown nails.

It’s a large strain on rescue groups when an animal collector is discovered. They are suddenly faced with the task of rescuing a large number of animal, sometimes hundreds. The animals cannot always be adopted out or euthanized immediately. In most areas, the animals must be retained until the collector has been tried in court. Animal collectors rarely admit their guilt or surrender their animals voluntarily, so this can take months or years. In the meantime, the sick animals, those that are too far gone to be helped, suffer and eventually die and those that are healthy remain in cages in shelters.