Guinea Pig Hoarding Situation

When father brought home rats from the behavioral science laboratory at Chico State University, I was five years old. They had babies. We raised eleven rats, coding their tails with nail polish to know their names. At twelve years of age, I went up the road and got guppies from a neighbor. They had babies. Too many to name. Cats, dogs, snakes, frogs, goats, chickens, a horse and donkey, trout in a pond, fish in a stream, ducks, rabbits, llamas, emu, iguana, deer, raccoon, a gerbil, mice and hamsters, Decades tending the natural environment of fish in a number of commercial venues, they attempted their ends by our means. We attempted good use of them through our ends too, but settled foremost on the pleasure of their company. For human purposes the best suited animal we have found for its’ own sake, is the guinea pig. Animals live with us for good reason. Because they can. Those who cannot, find increasing difficulty. Due to our nature, there is only less for them. Those we can live with are most often on condition we find good use. To them, this is not always so. If we find good use to both, it is through appreciating their needs as well. If we learn to appreciate animals in living with them, we may learn to respect those we cannot. At the least, we learn what all life must have to continue. To begin, a place. Humanity is not just for humans. It is their world, too. Innumerable creatures sacrifice by grace of ignorance. The least we learn by is compassion. People are often born and raised in cities, knowing little of nature but what they bring into their homes. They are caged, controlled, kept to perfection. But in their nature and degree they can't express it. Some do not know animal nature but in terms given by others and the example before them. Which they follow. Their animals are kept in human terms. They are given to expect things of those who do not keep their terms. These people could have better faith in human nature. They must look into their own heart, in how strongly they feel for animals. They might know many have this same heart. Especially for their own. We are told differently. That terrible people do horrible things. May be. But you will not find them on the internet, attempting to show how much they are loved and appreciated. The most terrible thing to us, is that you may be perfectly right. We are exactly as you say. We have all the indications of what are termed “hoarders”, junk, stuff, things in disarray. What we know to see in such evidence is compulsion, confusion, indecision as rampant in their lives, it must be presumed as much with their pets. What we see, is an endless series of choices made in favor of animals and their care, not that of stuff and things. It well proves the opposite of what all are told. Hoarding is more frequently a misnomer. We hear it often, as a convenience of condemnation. Word for word phrases of rhetoric to identify and label what is seen. There are many. Look to why, to find reason. Motive plays a part in all things. Look to the heart of humankind as your own. More than not, it is. There is always reason. It is not always good. But why? Not what. When we find people who harm animals, we harm the people. We take their animals. We are found. We reveal ourselves. Our animals are not taken. What can be surmised from this? Animal care is a matter of degree. It is more, or is less. Animal abuse has a threshold. It is, or is not, according to human law. The difference is a matter of opinion. Labels will not make it stick. More important than what people are, is what they are doing. More revealing than what they are doing, is why. We do not care for people who know what we are. We are interested in those who wish to know why. Those who wish us hoarders, find a better home for them. We will give them to you. Until then, we are responsible for their care. If you hurt us, you harm them too. It is not enough to abuse people. Find what helps animals. It is not “someone” that should “do something”. It is you. Animals are not something. They are someone. As much might be said of those who care for them.

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