[lisarea]

Oh, I know animal hoarding isn't endemic to the South. It happens here too. (I used to work with a guy who was probably a cat hoarder, and I have a friend who used to work in a huge vet's office in Denver who dealt with a lot of hoarders, too.)

Animal welfare in general, though, is in considerably worse shape in the southern states. Shelters in the south have higher kill rates, spaying and neutering is less widely adopted and even accepted, there are more puppy mills, etc. There are all kinds of transport services that pull animals out of southern shelters and take them to northern states for adoption. Generally, it's a rich-poor thing moreso, but there are added cultural elements in the southern US that makes the situation worse. And people kind of wave those things off as 'cultural differences.' Which they are, but the fact that they're 'cultural differences' doesn't necessarily mean they're acceptable.