Lee County Animal Services is pushing to educate pet owners about a growing problem in Southwest Florida…animal hoarding. April is prevention of animal cruelty month.

There are many types of animal cruelty but one that is growing across the nation, including Southwest Florida, is animal hoarding. Animal Services says there are people who have a large number of animals in their home, and even though that does not constitute animal cruelty, sometimes it can be a health risk to the humans as well as the animals. Spokeswoman Ria Brown says the challenge with helping animal hoarders is getting them to understand the consequences of their actions.

”When it gets to the point when the animals are suffering, and the people don’t realize it, and a lot of the times the animal hoarders themselves are suffering just as well but they may fail to see that, and they maybe causing these problems for other family members, especially children.

Brown says some of the characteristics of animal hoarders included; obsessive compulsive, ability to gain sympathy, denial of their behavior. For more information on animal hoarding visit www.leelostpets.com.