animal planet, animal hoarders

Don't be fooled. Animal Planet will indeed paint anyone with "excessive" numbers of pets as hoarders.

I wouldn't trust AP to not paint all reptile keepers as irreponsible thrill seekers... wait.. they already did that more than once.

If it were ONLY about not taking proper care, it would be "neglect". Because of the numbers, they call it "hoarding". You can neglect a single animal to death. You can neglect 20 animals to death. But neglecting a single dog by letting it starve on a chain doesn't get enough viewers going "Ewww! OMG! Did you see how MANY??"

The general public doesn't think "Oh hey, you've got 20 snakes? Do you take proper care of them?" They think "OMG 20 SNAKES??? HOARDER! I saw that on Animal Planet!"

Exceptions? Of course. But overall, the general public doesn't understand how a person would want to keep one snake much less a room full. To many of the public, a room full of snakes = a horrible nightmare they want to wake up from.

wow to have a snake die of feeding neglect thats crazy. a rat is only 3 dollers and that's every 2 weeks.

wolfy-hound is correct. Animal planet is after the thrill factor. :(

I live very far from my family, so when I start talking about how many pets I have they start getting concerned. I was talking with my sister on the phone back in May and she tried to be sensitive about the subject and asked me if I thought I was a hoarder. After explaining the differences between hoarding and having a large collection she seemed to feel better, but after she finally came to visit I think she got it. I'm fully convinced my pets live better than I do. :P

I don't generally watch that show but I have seen a couple episodes. I could have sworn one of the doctors on there (or on a show like it) said your considered a hoarder if the number of animals you keep exceeds 4? I could be wrong but the number 4 is sticking out in my head and I remember my wife pointing out they had a specific number and it was very low.

To clarify...

Animal Hoarding IS a legitimate disorder(same as hoarding, only with specific live creatures). I just don't feel AP is worried about making sure they film animal hoarders vs legitimate breeders or collectors. I also feel they make the lines blurry so as to influance the public to think that anyone owning more than a few pets(possibly that 4, as I think I remember someone saying that somewhere) is automatically neglecting them and a hoarder.

We need to influance the public in a positive manner. Talking to people about how you breed to provide healthy pets vs imported, or how much time it takes to keep all your pets clean and well cared for, etc. Give a responsible mature image for the public to see and interact with. It's one thing to see a videotaped program on tv, it's another to think that the nicely-dressed young polite man you chatted with in the park is a crazed animal hoarder.

I think AP puts some effort into distinguishing that hoarding is a mental disorder. Usually they'll have doctors interviewed on the show and the doctor will explain that the person on Fatal Attractions is trying to fulfill some sort of need that they otherwise aren't getting, and keep buying animals in an attempt to fill that hole.

For example, there was the Fatal Attractions episode about the woman with nine wolves. She was demonstrated as taking care of them properly, feeding them properly, etc. They interviewed some doctors who gave a brief overview of her disorders, in that she'd been neglected as a child and was using the nine wolves to feel part of a "pack" since she hadn't felt that way with humans. Ultimately, her wolves killed her one day.

Then there was the Fatal Attractions episode about the woman who kept feeding the bears, and the doctors chalked that up to being that she had been abandoned by her biological mother, and her foster mother was very cold toward her and not very affectionate. The woman was filmed stating that she fed bears, no matter how dangerous it was, because it made her feel like she was nurturing, and nurturing was something she desired badly since she never got it as a child. There were two women on that show who fed bears, but one of them was killed. The other was banned from living in that area.

I haven't seen the episode with the hoarding snake lady in a while but it's probably something similar.