TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Snakes may scare Dr. Corey Gonzales, but cameras, the local clinical psychologist gamely admitted, do not.

"To be in front of the camera you have to have some need to be noticed or some need for validation," Gonzales said Tuesday. "I try to keep it in check -- and my wife keeps me in check."

Not only has Gonzales periodically weighed in on mental health issues for local media throughout his career, but Wednesday night, he will appear in the third season premiere of Animal Planet's reality TV program "Confessions: Animal Hoarding."

Gonzales said he's appeared in about half the episodes during the show's first two seasons, and he will likely be featured as an expert and consultant in every episode this season.

The show follows experts as they investigate and confront reported "animal hoarders," or people who keep too many animals in too small a space, often in unsanitary and inhumane conditions.

"Animal hoarding" is neither an officially recognized mental disorder, nor is it a legal term. Most animal cruelty cases are prosecuted under the same penal code.

But it is a phenomenon that's made plenty of news in recent years -- especially in Gonzales' adopted home of Kern County.

Supervising Deputy District Attorney Michael Yraceburn, who is also chairman of the Kern County Animal Control Commission, said lax enforcement and rural, isolated settings make Kern County a magnet for people with a history of hoarding animals.

He said a combination of an increased sensitivity to such cases on the part of county officials and higher visibility in the media have led to an increase in reports of animal hoarding.

Senior Animal Control Officer Steve Eirich said in a statement that the county has seen an increase "in these types of cases over the past several years," and that Kern County Animal Control "has taken a more aggressive stance regarding investigations."

And while Yraceburn said there are very high rates of recidivism among hoarders who are prosecuted for animal abuse charges, Gonzales said he hopes that will change with raised awareness of the mental health issues associated with hoarding.

"This is such a growing problem," he said. "We're trying to get this recognized by the mental health community."

With diagnosis, Gonzales said, there might be more opportunities for treatment. He added that Animal Planet provides therapy for people after they appear on the show.

Gonzales said he recognizes the concerns of some animal owners that animal control could euthanize their animals.

Ultimately, though, Gonzales said the animals are a manifestation of underlying emotional problems, often the result of earlier abuse and attachment dysfunction.

"One of my signature questions is, 'What do these animals symbolize to you?'" he said. "These animals are working as some kind of defense."

Gonzales, whose own battle with cancer first inspired him to pursue psychology, said that fact helps him reach people.

"People have been through trauma and I'm a trauma survivor," he said.

Though Gonzales focuses on the mental health aspect of animal hoarding for the show, he said the environments hoarders create are often physically hazardous, too -- and not just for the animals.

"If you're in a house where there's 100 cats and they're not let out and there's feces everywhere and your lungs are burning and your eyes are burning," he said, it's far from glamourous.

And, at least for Gonzales, those rattlesnakes featured in the season premiere definitely posed a challenge.

"I'm not fond of snakes to say the least," he said.

Still, Gonzales said, seeing healing processes begin -- for human relationships and animals alike -- "makes it all worthwhile."