Animal hoarding involves keeping more animals than can be adequately cared for, resulting in severe welfare harm to many animals and requiring multi-agency response.
Animal hoarding creates some of the most severe welfare violations encountered by animal control services. Animals in hoarding situations suffer prolonged neglect in conditions that shock investigators. Effective response requires treating hoarding as a mental health issue requiring intervention alongside the immediate animal welfare emergency. Without addressing the underlying compulsion, animals returned or acquired by hoarders will suffer the same fate.