150 dogs were seized in an animal cruelty bust, and now the St. John the Baptist Animal Shelter is seeking volunteers and donations to help with the influx of abused dogs. Shelter Manager Rachael Sance says the dogs are at a healthy weight, and have been fed, but arrived with a number of ailments.
“They are all testing positive for intestinal parasites, about 90 percent of them have heart worms, we have about a quarter of them with sarcoptic mange, and about another 20-25 of them with demodex mange.”
Sance says it’s the largest single influx of dogs the shelter has ever seen, the next largest being 40 last year from another cruelty case.
Despite the deplorable living conditions, Sance says many of the dogs are ready for a supportive family to foster or adopt them. She says if you are interested in a canine companion, the shelter will provide their new owners a crate, food, medical supplies, and other vitals supplies.
“We have over half of them coming to the front of the kennel, sniffing our fingers, licking our fingers, so I really think these dogs have a lot of potential.
Sance does not recommend bringing one of the rescues into a home with young children.
The shelter is seeking a variety of goods from generous donors to help cope with the pack, including cleaning supplies like bleach and towels, along with dog food. Sance says there’s a number of ways the public can help, including helping socialize the dogs, and giving direct donations.
“They can volunteer if they want to drive out, if it’s too far, and they want to send a donation, we have a PayPal account set up, they can mail a check, they can go to Amazon and we have a wish list on there.”
The investigation has been referred to as a “hoarding” case, but details about the alleged hoarder, or hoarders have not been made available yet.
