Thoughts on Interview With Celeste Killeen

Shortly after my interview with Celeste Killeen, author of Inside Animal Hoarding: The Story of Barbara Erickson and Her 552 Dogs, I began thinking about some of the things she'd said and how the conversation had gone. Here are a few of my thoughts on that interview.

Killeen is a soft-spoken woman whose compassion and care for animals comes through immediately upon speaking with her. My first questions regarding her relationship with Barbara Erickson had to do with things like diagnoses and management protocols, etc, but I was surprised - and impressed - to find that Killeen had very little interest in labeling Erickson in any way. Though it is irrefutable that Erickson - who was discovered in her tiny eastern Oregon home living with her husband and 552 dogs - has serious mental issues, there still exists a recognition that this woman is, after all, still human. Just as someone with schizophrenia cannot be dismissed entirely as Just A Schizophrenic, Erickson cannot be dismissed as Just a Hoarder. There is a story there - one Killeen tells with great depth and insight in her book. Indeed, whenever I started to delve too deeply into the lingo and buzzwords surrounding the issue of hoarding, the author was quick to set me straight.

One of the more surprising responses from Killeen during the interview was when I asked how she thought people should deal with someone who may have a hoarding problem. Rather than giving a blanket response that the police or animal control should immediately be called, Killeen's response was much more human. "Just for the regular lay person like the neighbor next door or the relative or friend, what's most important I think is to keep communications open with the person," the author informed me. She suggested trying to persuade the individual to scale back or get rid of a few animals, or else to actually try to get some financial help for spaying and neutering, food, etc. Again, it was very interesting to speak with someone who has dealt this closely with a hoarder of such magnitude as Barbara Erickson, yet can still maintain this level of compassion and humanity.

By far the most unpleasant news I received during the interview was the fact that it appeared Erickson is hoarding once more, now that she is no longer on probation. Because animal hoarding has a close-to 100% recidivism rate, news like this is hardly surprising. It is, however, disheartening. For now, Killeen - like everyone involved in this troubling trend - has no easy answers for how to resolve hoarding behaviors. But because the author chose to approach the subject - and the individuals involved in these cases - without judgment, she and co-author Arnold Arluke have provided a rare inside-look into the shadowed mind of the animal hoarder. I was genuinely grateful to have an opportunity to speak with her.