While some of them are still in various stages of recovery, nearly all 166 dogs and cats that were seized from an Adams County property have been moved from a temporary facility where they were being housed to emergency placements centers, Stephanie Twining of The Humane Society of the United States said this week.
The temporary facility near Columbus was preparing to close this week and Twining said that as of Monday she believed there was just one dog that The HSUS still needed to find a place to go.
Rescue organizations from Massachusetts to Indiana took in animals from the case, including six in Ohio: CHA Animal Shelter in Columbus, Capital Area Humane Society near Columbus, PAWS Ohio in Cleveland, Cleveland Animal Protective League, Toledo Area Humane Society and Wood County Humane Society near Toledo.
“Many of the animals are now available for adoption through these organizations, and some have already found their forever homes. That’s a huge improvement from the truly deplorable conditions we rescued them from. We are lucky to have wonderful placement partners throughout Ohio who are working hard to ensure these animals get all the love and care they deserve, ” said Corey Roscoe, Ohio state director for The HSUS.
The animals – 148 dogs and 18 cats – were seized Dec. 9 from George Brock, owner of the Sugar Bear Dog & Cat Rescue facility off Mt. Unger Road near Otway.
The HSUS was called in to assist with the seizure by the Adams County Dog and Kennel Department because it could not handle the large number of animals.
The animals were transported to the temporary facility in the Columbus area where they were treated for various ailments and had their shots updated.
Jessica Nelson, senior operations manager for the Capital Area Humane Society, said Tuesday that her facility accepted four dogs. She said the dogs were still receiving medical and behavior treatments and were not ready to be adopted yet.
She said they have all been neutered, received their vaccines, and are in various stages of medical care. She said that once they are ready to be adopted, if they’re still taking medicine the new owners will be given enough medicine to finish that treatment.
Most of the facilities the animals have been sent to have websites showing pictures of animals available for adoption.
Nelson said the dogs her facility accepted are not pictured yet because they are not ready for adoption. But she said once their pictures go up on the website, dogs are usually adopted quickly.
Anyone interested can visit the websites.
The HSUS said Adams County authorities served a search warrant in December and found dogs and cats suffering from a variety of medical ailments and a lack of basic care. Some of the animals were underweight and suffering from untreated wounds, broken bones and severe eye, skin and ear infections.
“These dogs and cats were in a terrible situation. The owner had too many animals and was unable to provide adequate care,” Roscoe said. “It is a huge relief that they will now receive the care and medical attention they so desperately need. We are grateful to the agencies who collaborated to make this a successful rescue.”
Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522 or on Twitter @13gillilandj.
