Animal hoarding as a form of animal abuse and legal aspects

Abstract

Holding a larger number of animals, does not explicitly mean their pathological collecting (hoarding) if they are kept quality keeping conditions. However, we are witnessing that individuals often keep an excessive number of animals under conditions that do not meet the minimum requirements for proper care, nutrition and / or accommodation. Such a form of posture is one of the forms of animal abuse but has also a negative impact on the owner and the environment in which such animals are staying. For this reason, the authors in this paper are primarily concerned with the phenomenon of “carriers”, through the definition and then profiling of persons involvved in such activities, as well as the recognition of potential animal collectors, with negative effects on the environment. In addition, a legal aspect that treats such a socio-negative phenomenon with the framework principles and the detection of unlawful effects and violations of such provisions is briefly presented.