The abnormal collection of animals reached a sad record in 2022 for the second year in a row. This is shown by a recently published data analysis by the German Animal Welfare Federation: 73 cases of animal hoarding with 4,506 affected animals were reported to the federation last year - more animals than ever before. An average of six cases were reported per month. This continues the upward trend of 2021. Animal shelters, which are already under a lot of pressure, are barely able to cope with caring for the animals, most of which are completely neglected, and are reaching their spatial, financial and psychological limits.
"The suffering of the hoarded animals is almost unimaginable: neglected, malnourished and sick, they live in confined spaces in their own urine and excrement, reproducing uncontrollably - while the owners usually don't even realize that their animals are in a bad way and sometimes even take in more and more," says Nina Brakebusch, expert on animal hoarding at the German Animal Welfare Federation. She is very concerned about the trend: "In many cases, animal rights activists also recover dead animals during rescue operations. These often cannot all be counted and recorded, nor can the offspring of pregnant animals. Our figures are to be understood as minimum values - unfortunately, a high number of unreported cases can be assumed."
CATS AND SMALL PETS PARTICULARLY AFFECTED
Since the German Animal Welfare Federation began collecting data, cats have been the animals most frequently affected by animal hoarding, including in 2022. They were hoarded in a total of 35 cases. Based on the total number of animals, it was mainly small pets that were hoarded: As these reproduce particularly quickly, almost every second animal affected by animal hoarding was a small pet, at 1,897. The largest case occurred in the Bavarian town of Roth, where 400 rabbits were rescued from the cellar and garden shed of a hoarder.
ANIMAL SHELTERS IN NEED
For the animal shelters that take in and care for the confiscated animals from animal hoarding cases on behalf of the local authorities, each individual case represents an enormous additional burden. Many shelters are already overcrowded due to the increased number of animals relinquished during the pandemic, while the rising costs of food, energy, staff and vets are pushing them to their financial limits. "More than ever, charitable animal welfare is dependent on fair remuneration from local authorities. However, they are mostly denied this: only five animal shelters were able to report full cost recovery after an animal hoarding case in 2022," says Brakebusch. As an umbrella organization, the German Animal Welfare Federation is calling for appropriate financial support for the assumption of mandatory municipal tasks. At the same time, the problem needs to be curbed sustainably at federal policy level. To this end, the Animal Welfare Federation is calling for a pet protection ordinance with clear guidelines for breeding and keeping and a mandatory certificate of competence, a comprehensive central register for animal owners who have committed criminal offences and, last but not least, the recognition of animal hoarding as a medical condition in order to offer those affected better treatment options.
Note to the editorial offices
In the data analysis for 2021, the total number of cases was initially stated as 68. However, as a further five cases were added after publication, this figure was corrected to 73, the same number as in 2022. You can find the analysis "Animal hoarding cases 2022" here, the analysis "Animal hoarding cases 2012 - 2021" here, and further information at www.tierschutzbund.de/animal-hoarding.
