Another day, another mental illness: animal hoarding

It wasn't long ago that a TV drug ad brought me the news that extreme shyness was a treatable mental disease called social anxiety disorder (aka SAD); not to be confused with seasonal affective disorder (also SAD), which is winter blues from lack of sunlight which can be treated without drugs by getting out in the sunshine more. Come to think of it, getting out in the sunshine where you might meet other people might help with social anxiety as well, but why bother when there is a happy pill?

Anyway, today's news brings a story from Louisiana of a man literally eaten, burrowed and you-can-guess-what-else out of house and home by a pair of bunnies he bought for companionship. When he abandoned his house and called his doctor (I never would have thought of that) for help there were 73 fat furry critters. Shades of The Trouble With Tribbles (Star Trek reference).

Rabbit multiplication runs owner out:
"[SPCA Executive Director Laura] Maloney said the man was not cited and does not have the mental disorder called animal hoarding, Maloney said.
"Hoarders collect strays and shelter animals in a misguided attempt to love and care for them, and rarely ask for help, she said. 'He was a very nice man who recognized he was in a situation where he needed help.'"

He may not be clinically classified as an animal hoarder, but he sure had a horde of animals. Reminds me of a call I made early in my constable career. It was full dark when we pulled into the yard of a run-down farmhouse and though the night was chilly the front door stood wide open. Before we could exit the vehicle, a horde of yapping dogs, some nipping at each other, surrounded my car. My partner lost count at 17. Then a swayback horse in desperate need of currying sauntered out of the house. And then a hog weighing well over 200 pounds. That was the last straw. We were only there to collect an overdue traffic fine, so we decided to try again another day.