Ongoing research projects
Animal Hoarding as a Multidisciplinary Challenge - A Mixed-Methods Study with a Focus on Humans and Animals (since 01/2024)
Animal hoarding describes the pathological collection and hoarding of animals in large numbers, whereby the animal owner ("hoarder") no longer adequately cares for the animals and minimum standards of animal-friendly husbandry, nutrition, hygiene and veterinary care are not met. Animal hoarding cases are also characterized by the uncontrolled proliferation and neglect of the animals. The suffering of humans and animals often go hand in hand. Hoarders are often unable to recognize that they are neglecting the animals and that they themselves are suffering from the situation due to comorbid mental illnesses such as depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder. As those affected sometimes isolate themselves from their environment as the collecting activity progresses, animal hoarding often takes place in secret.
Due to the high number of unreported cases, it is not possible to make a definitive statement about the exact extent of hoarding cases in Germany. In order to collect statistically reliable data, to better understand the situation of animals in animal hoarding facilities, the psychological and biographical backgrounds of the hoarders and to develop sustainable concepts for the prevention of animal hoarding, the German Animal Welfare Association has launched an interdisciplinary research project.
The project consists of two parts. The first part focuses primarily on the perspective of the animals affected and the second part on the perspective of the people affected. The first part involves a written survey of veterinary offices on the animal hoarding cases processed in 2023. A complete survey of all German veterinary offices is planned using structured questionnaires that will record the type, number and condition of the animals affected, socio-demographic information on the animal owners and the measures taken by the veterinary offices and their results.
In the second part, a survey of the affected persons will be conducted from 2025. Narrative interviews will provide access to the personal causes of animal hoarding and open up an internal perspective on the phenomenon of animal hoarding.
The research project pursues three objectives in summary:
- Mapping the current animal hoarding situation in Germany
- Identification of individual/biographical causes of animal hoarding
- Development of guidelines, checklists and handouts to make it easier for multi-professional helpers (veterinarians, social workers, etc.) to identify and support animal hoarding cases
Cooperation partners: German Animal Welfare Association, Federal Association of Veterinarians, TierSucht e.V., Human-Animal Relationship Research Group at TU Dresden
Contact persons of the Human-Animal Relationship Research Group at TU Dresden: Michael Christian Schulze, Sandra Wesenberg
Project funding: German Animal Welfare Association