When Rehabbers are Hoarders

Anyone who has dealt with wildlife rehabbers knows that their world has a dirty little secret: Many wildlife rehabbers are hoarders in disguise.

And their disguise isn’t working.

If you go to a rehab "facility" (which is often no more than a ramshackle house on a dirt road) and its property is filled with wild animals in captivity, bunched in small enclosures or cages as if the place were a factory farm, you’ve got a problem.

The problem is a moral one: Do you call the authorities and report the rehabber? I think the answer is yes. However, once you make that call, you then must live with the consequences, which you cannot control.

One possible consequence is that the authorities sweep the place and euthanize all of the animals. So then your ultimate question becomes: Are they better off dead?

And maybe the answer is yes.