It started last July with a call from a neighbor about barking. The complaint sent Harford County, Maryland, animal control officers to a house in a quiet suburb where a 77-year-old woman lived alone with her dogs. The woman had once sold and showed American Kennel Club-registered Havanese and Biewer terriers. Now there were scores wandering around in the half light of her home, behind drawn curtains and blinds. Their long hair was uncut and matted. Feces coated the floors.
Meredith Lee/Humane World for Animals
In August, officers returned with our Animal Rescue Team and a search and seizure warrant alleging neglect.
“It’s pretty rough,” said Jessica Johnson, Animal Rescue Team senior managing director, as we readied to go in.
John Goodwin, Humane World for Animals senior managing director for puppy mills, said the lack of veterinary care and filth were consistent with conditions at a puppy mill—a commercial breeding operation where dogs receive woefully inadequate care.
As the door opened, the smell rolled across the lawn where I stood with other Humane World staff. Just inside on the wall hung an American Kennel Club ribbon for Best in Show from 2016 and an AKC Grand Championship certificate for Havanese from 2019.
Meredith Lee/The HSUS
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Rescuers took a quick walk through, stepping over loose dogs, kennel fences and panels dividing the rooms, and breathing air with ammonia at levels just below what would have required them to wear respirators. In the front room, four 3-week-old puppies lay in a whelping pen; in a bathroom, a mother nursed three living puppies with a dead puppy splayed nearby; on the other side of the house in another bathroom, five puppies huddled in a ball without their mother. A great room at the back of the house contained rows of stacked cages with up to seven dogs in each.
Meredith Lee/Humane World for Animals
Most dogs had no apparent access to food or water. Rescuers quickly took two lethargic dogs who appeared severely dehydrated—they were actually just skeleton thin—out of the house for care. Later, they would go to the veterinary ICU, where they were stabilized overnight. Like so many of the dogs, they suffered from dental disease and oral abscesses. Based on the condition of their teeth and gums, a vet who examined the dogs said they had likely been eating their feces.
For many of the dogs carried from the house, it was likely their first time outside. Some trembled as they were seen by one of three vets. Others shut down or “pancaked,” going flat.
Veterinary exams that day and the next found nails that appeared as if they had not been cut in two years; feces-encrusted paws; urine scalding; eye issues such as conjunctivitis; and ear mite infections so serious that they could rupture ear drums and cause neurological problems. Matting was so bad some dogs had to be sedated to be groomed—their feces-caked fur had hardened into masses that pulled on their skin, making it hard for them to move and threatening to cut off circulation.
After seven hours, we had taken all 111 dogs, and the dead puppy, from the house.
Meredith Lee/Humane World for Animals
By the next day, two more puppies had died. Poor nutrition likely left their moms unable to produce enough high-quality milk. But within a few weeks, most of the remaining dogs were sent to our partner organizations in Canada, Kansas, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.
In October, charges were filed against the woman in Harford County District Court: 101 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty alleging failure to provide adequate care. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
The woman pled not guilty but agreed to a statement of facts. A judge found her guilty in February, and sentencing was scheduled for later that month. The dogs have started new lives. They have water and food to eat. The matted fur that once pulled on their skin with every move has been shaved. They are free.
One pup's unbelievable transformation after rescue
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