Animal hoarding is a complex welfare and public health problem where well-intentioned individuals accumulate animals beyond their capacity to provide adequate care.
Animal hoarding causes severe, chronic welfare failure: animals in hoarded conditions rarely receive veterinary care, often suffer malnutrition, and live in unsanitary environments that promote disease transmission. Despite this, hoarders typically have genuine emotional attachment to animals and resist intervention. Effective responses require coordination between animal control, mental health services, and social services — and treating hoarding as a public health issue, not just an animal welfare one.