Description of Twenty-Nine Animal Hoarding Cases in Italy: The Impact on Animal Welfare

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Animal hoarding is a human psychiatric disease, characterized by a compulsive collection of animals, which generally produces a deep suffering for both animals involved and hoarders themselves. Here, we sought to analyze and profile 29 animal hoarders, who lived within urban and rural areas of the Lazio region (Italy), according to sex, age, job, living conditions and reasons of the patients behind such a pathological disorder. We also outlined the number and different animal species for each case analyzed. The animal hoarding phenomenon severely impacts human health, animal welfare and the environment worldwide, thus calling into question thoughtful strategies to be implemented, aimed at better coping with such a social issue. In this respect, the establishment of an animal hoarding observatory at a national level able to coordinate actions to be jointly taken might be encouraged, to establish an effective and adequate strategy to recognize this phenomenon, and to safeguard animal health. ABSTRACT: The hoarding of animals is a psychiatric disease, characterized by a compulsive collection of animals, with a relevant impact upon the care and welfare of animals, as well as on human society. In Italy, there are neither substantial reports nor information shared about such a phenomenon, making it difficult to draw a clear picture of the hoarder profile. Therefore, in the present work, we sought to detail 29 cases of animal accumulators in Italy, who lived within two areas of the Lazio region, and accumulated a total of 1080 animals from 2019 to 2022. In line with other international studies, we observed a prevalence of middle-aged (in their fifties) women, who lived mainly alone in a high level of social and health degradation. Most of the hoarded animals exhibited severe signs of dehydration and malnutrition, muscle hypotrophy, dermatological injuries, and behavioral disorders. Animal hoarding is not yet fully understood nor recognized as a psychosocial disorder, although it produces a deep suffering for the hoarder themselves, as well as corresponding family members, and the animals accumulated. Therefore, given the crucial impact of animal hoarding upon human and animal welfare, cross-cultural networks aimed at properly raising awareness of the problem could be established.