200 dogs rescued from hoarder

[Catherine]

One person takes in more and more animals and becomes a hoarder. Another person takes in animals and founds a rescue.

I guess the person who founds a rescue works with the community and draws on the support of friends. They respond to a need to take in animals, but then they work to find them homes.

The hoarder may have some of the same impulses, but they take animals in and hang onto them. They withdraw from the support around them and do not trust it.

The rescuer is a healthy person with healthy connections. The hoarder is withdrawn in the first place.

Quote:The lady I speak of was someone with a history of loss of dear loved ones. And she had not been able to fully come to terms with that. It may have affected her to 'hoard' things -maybe as some weird form of security.

I really think loss is a factor in hoarding.
The responsibility to prevent hoarding falls on all of us. We need to watch out for people like that and try to befriend them enough to prevent things from getting out of hand. It is not easy because some people do not want help.