MANSFIELD – The Humane Society of Richland County asked local residents for help after 75 dogs were removed from a Shelby home Sept. 25.
That call has largely been answered.
“We had so many people reach out to foster, and we actually don’t have enough dogs to give everyone,” Humane Society agent Aleigha Gabor said.
“It’s a good problem to have. The people, the community, have been awesome with being generous, responding and being willing to help.
“We’re to the point where we’re looking to get most of the fosters that aren’t going to adopt, get them back in, and get them out into permanent homes,” Gabor said.
Richland County Humane Society agents had had the Marvin Avenue home on their radar. But without a warrant, a response was impossible.
Agents got a break when the Shelby Police Department responded to a domestic issue at the home, giving way for 75 dogs, mostly Chihuahuas, to be uncovered in “deplorable conditions,” the Humane Society said.
“If we go to a house with no physical, tangible evidence of abuse or neglect, and we leave a tag, if they don’t answer us, we have to go,” Gabor said.
“We can’t force our way into the house. We can’t force them to respond to us. So we did go out. We tagged the door. We never heard a response, and no one had anything to let us know what was really going on … Unfortunately, things like that do fly under the radar without any evidence that would give us access to a warrant,” she said.
Most of the dogs are in healthy condition, Gabor said. They weren’t overly skinny or underfed.
“Just a lot of skin issues. A lot of dental issues and untreated fleas, for the most part,” Gabor said. “Most of the skin issues were from the environment; everything was wet and dirty … Most of them are good to go. Just a lot of bad teeth to fix up now.”
A couple of the dogs do have more serious issues. Apollo, a male Chihuahua, has a substantial tumor on his underside.
“He’s very sweet. He just never got fixed, and unfortunately, with males, when you don’t get them fixed, they have a high chance of getting testicular cancer,” Gabor said. “The vet’s confident that they can remove it. So we’re hoping to get him into the second half of his life tumor-free.
“We had a couple of blind ones that we did take for specialized blood work… but (Apollo’s) is the biggest issue, and most of the rest of them are just open wounds on their skin from being dirty and itching,” she said.
The recovery is never something the Humane Society has a plan for, but it’s gotten easier as time’s gone on.
“It was just a lot of Tetris-ing dogs and jockeying cages around, and I think we ended up making three trips of dogs with three different vehicles to get them all back,” Gabor said.
“Once we get that done, it kind of snowballs into being easier day by day.”
