Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Shelter Needs Help After Saving 89 Dogs
There's a pile of dog carriers in parking lot. It's nearly four feet high. The smell is overpowering. Imagine what it must have been like in a closed basement for 10 years.
Agents from the Humane Society of Delaware County have found animals in deplorable conditions before. But even they weren't quite prepared for what they found Tuesday evening.
They responded to an anonymous call about unacceptable conditions, and found more than a hundred dogs living with a single woman. She said she had been keeping the dogs for at least a decade.
"She was actually a really good person who really loved animals and really wanted to help them and she started out by rescuing dogs as a lot of people do," says Sherri Mitchell, HSDC's Executive Director. "She was waking up at three o'clock every morning and working until almost 10 o'clock every night just to empty dogs out of carriers, clean them, give them basic food and water and get them back into their carriers."
Many of the dogs were sharing carriers and crates. Some were even stored on shelves. Some of the cages didn't even have doors but the dogs still stayed.
Mitchell says the woman was actually grateful for the Humane Society's help. She is not being charged because she is being cooperative. She agreed to surrender the animals immediately.
"It's difficult for people who hoard dogs to find suitable adopters because they have such an almost obsessive attachment to those dogs," Mitchell says.
Literally overnight, the shelter tripled its already-crowded population. Even when it's at capacity, the Humane Society's building rarely has more than 40 dogs. Adding 89 dogs so suddenly has put a real strain on resources.
"Obviously the magnitude of this is significant for us," says Mitchell. "This is the largest amount of animals that has ever come into this facility at one time."
Many of the animals need medical attention. At least one has severe cataracts. At least two are missing their lower jaws and have to be fed pre-mashed food. Dozens have severely matted fur and need to be bathed, groomed and wormed. All need to be spayed or neutered and microchipped before they can be adopted out to new families.
Mitchell says, in a perfect situation, it would cost the shelter at least $100 to get each dog ready for adoption. The costs rise if the animal needs medical care and for each day the animal is boarded and fed. This is not, to say the least, a perfect situation. These dogs are going to cost the shelter a lot of time, money and resources.
The shelter needs help. Fast.
Mitchell points out that HSDC relies solely on private donations.
"We get absolutely zero funding from public entities like the county or the state or federal funding," she says. And that's why the need is so critical right now. "We need a tremendous help from the community. We need people to help us with any resources they have available; time, money, food, professional services, animal related services like groomers, veterinarians. Anything that we can get donated we would be most appreciative for."
Financial donations can be made on the Humane Society's website.
Donations of food, materials and services can be made at the shelter itself:
4920 State Route 37 East
Delaware, OH 43015
To adopt, foster or sponsor one of the dogs, call the shelter at 740.369.7387
By Marshall
Dogs for Sale | Puppies for sale- Find Breeder Pedigree and Non-Pedigree Dogs
Find thousands of cute dogs and puppies looking for good homes in the USA. Get dogs, puppies and various world famous, rare and real breeds of dogs at www.e-dogsite.com. Buy, sale and advertise dogs and puppies of various breed and also get the free buyer tips for dogs and puppies.
Agents from the Humane Society of Delaware County have found animals in deplorable conditions before. But even they weren't quite prepared for what they found Tuesday evening.
They responded to an anonymous call about unacceptable conditions, and found more than a hundred dogs living with a single woman. She said she had been keeping the dogs for at least a decade.
"She was actually a really good person who really loved animals and really wanted to help them and she started out by rescuing dogs as a lot of people do," says Sherri Mitchell, HSDC's Executive Director. "She was waking up at three o'clock every morning and working until almost 10 o'clock every night just to empty dogs out of carriers, clean them, give them basic food and water and get them back into their carriers."
Many of the dogs were sharing carriers and crates. Some were even stored on shelves. Some of the cages didn't even have doors but the dogs still stayed.
Mitchell says the woman was actually grateful for the Humane Society's help. She is not being charged because she is being cooperative. She agreed to surrender the animals immediately.
"It's difficult for people who hoard dogs to find suitable adopters because they have such an almost obsessive attachment to those dogs," Mitchell says.
Literally overnight, the shelter tripled its already-crowded population. Even when it's at capacity, the Humane Society's building rarely has more than 40 dogs. Adding 89 dogs so suddenly has put a real strain on resources.
"Obviously the magnitude of this is significant for us," says Mitchell. "This is the largest amount of animals that has ever come into this facility at one time."
Many of the animals need medical attention. At least one has severe cataracts. At least two are missing their lower jaws and have to be fed pre-mashed food. Dozens have severely matted fur and need to be bathed, groomed and wormed. All need to be spayed or neutered and microchipped before they can be adopted out to new families.
Mitchell says, in a perfect situation, it would cost the shelter at least $100 to get each dog ready for adoption. The costs rise if the animal needs medical care and for each day the animal is boarded and fed. This is not, to say the least, a perfect situation. These dogs are going to cost the shelter a lot of time, money and resources.
The shelter needs help. Fast.
Mitchell points out that HSDC relies solely on private donations.
"We get absolutely zero funding from public entities like the county or the state or federal funding," she says. And that's why the need is so critical right now. "We need a tremendous help from the community. We need people to help us with any resources they have available; time, money, food, professional services, animal related services like groomers, veterinarians. Anything that we can get donated we would be most appreciative for."
Financial donations can be made on the Humane Society's website.
Donations of food, materials and services can be made at the shelter itself:
4920 State Route 37 East
Delaware, OH 43015
To adopt, foster or sponsor one of the dogs, call the shelter at 740.369.7387
By Marshall
Dogs for Sale | Puppies for sale- Find Breeder Pedigree and Non-Pedigree Dogs
Find thousands of cute dogs and puppies looking for good homes in the USA. Get dogs, puppies and various world famous, rare and real breeds of dogs at www.e-dogsite.com. Buy, sale and advertise dogs and puppies of various breed and also get the free buyer tips for dogs and puppies.
Humane Society Rescues 100+ Dogs From Home's Basement
The Delaware County Humane Society seizes more than 100 small dogs from a house in Delaware County Tuesday evening.
Officials are calling it the largest seizure in the Delaware County Humane Society's history.
A call from a neighbor tipped off the humane society to the family who took in rescue dogs.
The dogs all were living in the home's basement.
Since the family voluntarily released the animals, no charges have been filed against the homeowner.
Sherri Mitchell, director of the Delaware County Humane Society, is asking anyone in the community for assistance at the humane society.
The homeowner was allowed to keep her personal animals, which included some dogs and even chickens, because they were in good shape.
Mitchell added that the homeowners had good intention but the problem got out of hand over the last 10 years.
The homeowner's name and address is not being released but the location of the seizure is located on U.S. Route 23 and Radnor Road.
All dogs will be up for adoption at the Delaware County Humane Society in the near future.
By Jason Mays (NBC 4)
Dogs for Sale | Puppies for sale- Find Breeder Pedigree and Non-Pedigree Dogs
Find thousands of cute dogs and puppies looking for good homes in the USA. Get dogs, puppies and various world famous, rare and real breeds of dogs at www.e-dogsite.com. Buy, sale and advertise dogs and puppies of various breed and also get the free buyer tips for dogs and puppies.
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