By RYAN LANCASTER
Staff Reporter
Producers of a documentary television show to be aired on Animal Planet are searching the Inland Northwest for people living with large numbers of animals.
Irina Khodorkovsky, a spokesperson for British Colombia-based GRB Entertainment, said the show will address both overwhelmed pet lovers who can no longer properly care for the many animals they keep, to full blown “hoarders,” who compulsively collect animals as a result of mental illness.
“We feel that currently, the problem of animal hoarding has not been properly addressed,” Khodorkovsky wrote in an e-mail. “Usually, animal hoarders are ignored by society until the problem gets so bad that animal control authorities are forced to step in.”
As part of the documentary, Khodorkovsky said those who participate will receive expert animal care and assistance in placing the animals in no-kill shelters if the experts feel that it is necessary.
In addition, she said the owners will have the opportunity for intensive psychiatric care from therapists who specialize in hoarding disorders in order to reach the core of the problem.
Khodorkovsky said hoarding is common and can have tragic results. “It is our goal as a program to try and provide compassionate and professional help,” she said.
The production team is looking in the Spokane area in particular because people who keep large numbers of animals are often living in smaller communities and are therefore able to stay under the radar, Khodorkovsky said, adding that she spoke with many animal shelters in the area that have encountered animal hoarding cases in the past.
For more information or to suggest a candidate for the documentary, call 1-877-MY8PETS.
Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].
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