My Friendly Pets

Yesterday, 12/19/07, 237 dogs were seized from a woman’s home in Corpus Christi, Texas. It appears that the woman, 70 years old, was a breeder of dogs and Kelli Copeland, the city’s manager for Animal Care Services, stated that “I think she slowly accumulated them and they were more than she could handle”. According to Copeland, there was plenty of food and water for the animals, but they were living in close quarters and unsanitary conditions. Many of the dogs were covered in urine and feces, so it was hard to determine easily what gender the dogs were. A workman notified the city of the conditions in the home after he had made a service call there. The woman may receive several citations from the city, once they determine the condition of all of the animals.

Many of the dogs rescued were Pomeranians, but there were also some Yorkshire terriers, poodles and other breeds. Unfortunately, the condition of one of the dogs required that it be euthanized. According to Copeland, the city is going to seek custody for the dogs, so that they may be placed in shelters or with rescue agencies and eventually adopted. A judge will determine on 12/27 if the dogs should be removed from the woman’s care. It is predicted that this will happen since the woman is elderly and homes in that area are only allowed a maximum of six dogs. There seems to be a clear indication that the owner truly loves animals, but obviously, it is a situation that had gotten very much out of control.

It also appears that some of the dogs are pregnant. They will require special care and special housing. In addition to local animal shelters and rescue organizations, a national rescue group called Pom Rescue is already involved. For those involved in the care, treatment and organizaing all of these dogs, the holidays according to Copeland are “pretty well shot”. Many people are already calling in wanting to adopt any one of these dogs, but no adoption decisions can be made until after the judge decides who will retain custody of all of the dogs.

There is some great information on another Texas city, Austin to be precise, by fellow blogger Kyla Myers.