It seems this person loved animals a bit too much, as over 150 animals, including rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, mice and assorted birds, were rescued from a home in Canberra, Australia.
The RSPCA in the area is now warning against the hoarding of animals. They say that pet owners in the area are limited to only three cats or three dogs unless they hold a breeding license. However there is, by law, no limit on the number of smaller pets such as mice, guinea pigs and rats.
These ducks are just a few of more than 140 pets seized from an animal hoarder in South #Canberra . Pic: @tvendange pic.twitter.com/c0dcAHRqcB
— Freya Cole (@freya_cole) February 25, 2015
IOL quoted Tammy Ven Dange, chief executive of the RSPCA in Australian Capital Territory (ACT) as saying it took four truckloads to move the assorted animals , also including several ducks pictured above, away from the home.
“We sent out four trucks and brought those animals back in and we identified each animal, then they were vet checked and all that must be documented.”
“So staff were at the shelter very late last night to identify and make sure that all the animals were fine.”
Speaking of the animal rules and regulations and lack of limits on smaller pets, Ven Dange said they can only remove the animals if there are welfare concerns.
“These small animals, if somebody has 100 healthy guinea pigs or whatever we can’t do a thing about it.”
“We can only get involved where there’s a welfare issue and usually that takes these kinds of crazy numbers before it gets that out of hand.”
Ven Dange said that the animal welfare organization had previously dealt with three hoarding cases involving pets other than dogs and cats in recent months. In each of those cases there were at least 90 animals involved.
While in the current case the RSPCA gave no further details about who the residents of the house are, this case could potentially head to court.
Rabbits, rodents, birds among almost 140 animals found crowded into Canberra home: An animal hoarder is uncove… http://t.co/NMN0f1rfA9
— News 24h AUS (@news24haus) February 25, 2015
According to animal welfare authorities, the animal hoarding issue is becoming more prevalent in Australia in recent years. Some have estimated this problem affects around one to two percent of the population.
On top of this, according to Ven Dange, cases like this can cause a real headache for the RSPCA due to the sheer number of animals involved.
“When our shelter gets a lot of animals at once like this it takes a huge amount of manpower to process them.”
According to ABC , around two weeks ago, the RSPCA visited a home where 20 birds were found dead in their cages . Because of this and other animal hoarding cases, Territory and Municipal Services Minister Shane Rattenburg told the Australian media that these cases have highlighted shortcomings in the law and he is looking to do something about this.
“I’m talking to the RSPCA and looking to see if we can close some of those gaps in the legislation to make sure that we’ve got the best animal welfare protection in the ACT.”
In relation to the latest animal hoarding incident, the RSPCA has said that most of the animals will be available for adoption within the next few weeks.
[Image: CC by-SA AlexK100 ]
