A Common Anomaly

[LixyChick]

It's happening all around us as we go about our lives. In that house at the bottom of the dead end street. In the rented house where there never seems to be anyone at home. In that dilapidated house that sits back so far off the road that you'd have to stretch your neck to see it as you pass the property.

A neighbor keeps smelling an offensive odor. It can be attributed to "that house", but no authority or agency will take charge and go see what is causing it. Whomever is contacted about it, keeps passing the buck! A year goes by as the neighbor tries to get someone to take notice and solve the situation. FINALLY, the smell is so overwhelming that it can't be igonore or passed off to another anymore. They (whatever authority who takes the bull by the horns) get an injuction or search warrant and then storm the house in question. What they find is ATROCIOUS!

I had to set the scene to ask a question that has been tearing my heart in two every single time I hear of a situation as I described above.

On the local news this evening...

After a year and 1/2 of neighbors seeking help in finding out the reason for the stench coming from the rented house just up on the hill...the problem has been solved by local authorities today. After a year of trying to get access to the home, and the renter in question never showing up for appointments, a warrant was granted and access to the home accomplished. What they found inside is indescribable and abhorrent! As best as they can try to describe the findings is what follows:

Upon entering the house, the smell was overwhelming and masks had to be applied. Feces was 1-2" deep on all areas of the floors and furniture. Dogs were cowering in different corners of the rooms. No dog seemed to be the alpha dog and stand up for his domain. They were all petrified! Some walls were biten through and/or scratched though to allow access from one room to another by the dogs. One room contained 17 dogs, all of which were visibly starving and sick. A mattress was on the floor and covered with feces and urine laden. Trash mixed with some kind of food product and feces was strewn across the floor upon all the feces as well.

OK...OK...You get the idea of the report I heard tonight. I can't go one...but it did and I am devastated!

WHAT IN THE WORLD POSESSES PEOPLE TO AQUIRE SO MANY DOGS (any animal...I've heard of it with cats too)...and then just neglect them and leave them to live in such filth and fend for themselves and all the while they keep aquiring more and more??

I don't even know what questions I want to ask! I am sooooooooooooooo upset by this I cannot reel in my thoughts!

I think I really just want a definitive answer...WHY? What gets into the minds of these people who do this? WHY? What satisfaction do they get from this? WHY? I am baffled and my heart is breaking for these helpless animals...and all I can do is ask WHY?

OK...I'm done. I just had to put this out there and see if anyone has heard of a follow up story where the person responsible for something like this has had an answer as to why? I've got to get into these people's heads and find out the answer! I swear, it's eating me alive!

[lizzardbits]

i see this a lot on Animal Planet on "animal Cops" i think is the name of the program. These are animal collectors, and can happen to dogs and cats and other animals. Some of these animals are so wild that they have to be humainely euthanized, as they are unadoptable. sad sad sad. The animal collectors usually love the animals, but they themselves have such psychological difficulties that they don't know how to even take care of themselves. I saw one program that the guy had over 200 cats in his tiny house and that it had gotten so bad for him, that he went and started living out in the garage. All the cats pulled had to be put down and i think the house was condemned.

I guess i have always taken Bob Barker's advice and spayed or neutered my cats and dogs.

I know, it seem to take forever to get the authorities to do something when it is needed and then when the paperwork is done so that they can do something, people are questioning why did it take so long. The laws that are ment to protect our privacy can also be a hinderance at times.......

sad sad sad :( poor critters..

[Lilith]

I have heard similar tales over and over and every person who was arrested said the same thing...they thought they were helping by taking them in but then it starts to get out of control and they can't afford it and it all turns into a mess. I have often wondered if some of these people suffer from mental illnesses. I am def not making excuses, I think it's appalling.

[Lilith]

Lizz...you are quick ;)

[BIBI]

Hoarding is what it's called and there is no definative answer as to why people hoard animals. It isn't recognized as a mental illness, but experts suggest that it may be symptomatic of psychological disorders such as Attachment disorder, Dementia,Addiction and Obsessive Compulisive disorder.

These people fail to acknowledge the deteriorating condition of the animals and household environment. They get overwhelmed and can't keep up with the demands of what is needed to care for these animals.

The profile of a hoarder is this...

76% are female
46% are sixty of older
Most are single and more than half live alone.

Hoarding knows no age, gender, or socioeconomic boundries. It has been found in men and women. The young and the old. Married , single and widowed.

It is a horrible thing to live with for my aunt was a hoarder. She liked cats and newspapers and tin cans.Her hoarding started upon the death of her husband. It took me two years to gain power of attorney and get for her the help she needed. Mind you her house was neat and tidy with all the tins washed out and packed in bags. The cats were well cared for but if things had progressed I am sure her home would have ended up like many do.....

Now puppy mills are another story for another thread! :(

[TinTennessee]

When it comes to neglect/abuse of kids OR animals..I have NO sympathy at all. I lose all reason and don't care if they are mentally ill or not..it pisses me off!

[maddy]

I don't have an answer Lixy, but it breaks my heart too. I'm a "mom" to a beautiful cat who has nothing but love a little mischief to give. I had acquired another kitten and had to take her to the SPCA when I realized I was terribly allergic to her, it was a tough decision, and taking her there was difficult and I nearly left and took her back home determined to live in a breathing/sneezing/wheezing/coughing hell because all the yelping crying animals there begging to be adopted were breaking my heart.

Since then I've been a financial supporter (even though its small, its what i can do) of the SPCA because everyone should have the opportunity to take a pet or 20 to a place free of charge, essentially no questions asked when they just can't do it anymore.

[PantyFanatic]

This almost seems to be far too familiar of an event to even be classed an anomaly. :( This thread alone causes me to again consider the makeup of the specie that commonly possess this peculiarity. :eek: It further befuddles me for it to be so repugnant to us other members of the same species. :dizzy:

It’s almost enough to give credence to the presence of intergalactic intelligence performing studies on such paradoxical existence. :confused:



SUMMERY~ It's us man! :hippy:

:yikes:

[LixyChick]

Thank You guys!

See? This is why I come here and present my questions. I am comforted (just a little on this subject) and I don't feel so alone in my emotional upset. TYSVM!

I have seen this type of thing all too much and each time it knaws at my soul to find an answer. I've seen the show you spoke of lizzardbits. All the cats, and not one could be saved. It broke my heart!

I understand what you are saying BIBI. Pop (Mr. Lixy's grandpop) was a hoarder of things...not animals. We even once found a peanut butter jar under his bed filled with beard shavings (from his electric shaver) from over a year or two. It's an odd thing what they'll hoard!

I know PF, that anomaly means "deviation from common"...but this strange action is happening all too often without much focus on understanding and cure. So I labeled the thread "Common Anomaly" because it explains a happening that is present more often these days (Common), but must have been happening in days gone by and just wasn't news worthy (Anomaly). Or maybe it was just so localized until shows like Animal Planet brought us the scope of it all. Oh...I don't know. I just thought "Common Uncommonality" (word?...is now) wasn't catchy enough a title for a thread...lol!

It has to be a sickness, as no person in their right mind would look in on a situatuion like this and feel at ease!

Some good news comes from this story I presented. Unlike the cats in the story lizzardbits spoke of...some of these dogs will be adoptable. There were several dozen dogs in this house and a lot of them had mange and intestinal parasites, etc. But there are a couple dozen who can be helped. It seems almost all the dogs are gentle enough to be cared for. It was even said that they'd make PERFECT pets because their appreciation seems tenfold over a dog adopted from normal circumstances. Right now, all of them seem to cower and shake when a person gets near. But a few have already taken food from the hands of the caregivers/medical personnel, which is always a good sign of trust and gentleness. None of them growl at each other...another good sign. All of them need intense medical care and will probably be shaved completely to let their fur come back in after they have been cleansed at the skin level. It doesn't seem as any of them hurt one another in a survival of the fittest. Dogs are instinctual pack animals...and this pack cared for one another deeply.

As to the renter of the house...no one has spoken about the owner who rented this house out to the person[s] who will be charged for this neglect...the report has only mentioned the renter and his wife. The man they seek (who is nowhere to be found at the moment) is 58 y/o, and his wife is 62. He will be charged with neglect and who knows what else. I think they should also charge the owner of the house with something! What kind of landlord lets a thing like this go on in a house they own? I already know the answer to that (I think)...and so it's probably rhetorical...but I am typing and I can't stop...lmfao!

Hey! Thanks again guys!