71 beagles rescued from house of filth in the US where woman died

ANIMAL welfare workers have rescued 71 beagles from a cramped house in rural Pennsylvania, where officials say a woman had been breeding them without a license before she died last month.

The Lehigh County Humane Society got a call late Saturday night from police who responded to noise complaints at a home outside Allentown, said Barbara Morgan, the Humane Society’s police officer.

The officers estimated about 25 dogs were inside the home.

Four animal welfare workers and two trucks responded.

“Six hours later, we’ve removed 71 beagles,” Morgan said, adding she had never seen so many animals squeezed into such a small space.

Many are sickly and underweight and all of the animals had fleas, she said.

Workers said on Facebook that they are in “desperate need of wet dog food and monetary donations.”

Several are showing symptoms of mange and others have vision issues and are possibly blind. They range in age from weeks old to senior-aged.

“The animals themselves, everywhere from emaciated to worms,” Morgan said.

“But they’re all being treated and assessed at this time.”

The dogs didn’t initially belong to the man who owned the home, said Mary Shafer, the executive director of the county Humane Society.

The man’s companion had been breeding, kennelling and selling beagles, and acted as a beagle rescue, all without a license, Shafer said.

The woman passed away in September, leaving the man with the animals, she said.

He will likely face charges.

The dogs are being evaluated and information on adoption will be available in coming days. Until then, the shelter is in need of donations to help care for them, including wet food, towels, sheets and leashes.

“It is beagle-mania here right now,” Morgan said.

The shelter typically handles 200 animals at a time, and the influx of beagles has overwhelmed the large dog area of the non-profit shelter, she said.

Just bathing them, clipping their nails and separating the ill from the healthy has been a challenge. Eventually all the dogs will be spayed or neutered, microchipped and vaccinated.

“It is really stressing for staff, but they’ve told me this is why they are here and they appreciate being able to help,” Shafer said.

The shelter is now calling for volunteers to help.

Lehigh Valley Humane Society’s development officer Hal Warner said: “We need volunteers. We need people to come down and walk the dogs and have a good time. Show them some love.”

“The need is going to be ongoing. Over the next week or two we’ll be doing medical evaluations of all the animals taken in. I think, as we said earlier, this is going to be the largest animal rescue in our 150 year history and we’re proud to be part of it,” Warner said.