Several dogs rescued from a hoarding situation in Owen County are recovering in foster homes in Bloomington before going up for adoption.
On May 18, the Owen County Sheriff's Department responded to a call about a rat problem at a rural home. When police got to the property, they found about 40 dogs in filthy conditions.
Director of the Owen County Humane Shelter Becky Brown says police immediately called them for help.
"We had about three vans ready to go and we were expecting 40 dogs," Brown says. "We retrieved 46 dogs that first day, 40, 30-some dogs the second day and so we quickly doubled our numbers in a very short period of time."
The shelter could not handle that many dogs at once, so the nearby Terre Haute Humane Society sent out an email asking other counties to help out.
"We have never received that many dogs in such a short period of time," Brown says.
The Bloomington Animal Shelter took in 19 of the dogs.
Director of Animal Care and Control at the Bloomington Animal Shelter Virgil Sauder says several of the dogs are in foster homes, waiting to regain their health before going up for adoption.
We have never received that many dogs in such a short period of time.
When the dogs first arrived at the shelter, Sauder says they checked them for any injuries or health needs like fur loss or open wounds.
When state veterinarians check on rescued dogs, they assess them using what's called a body score. On that scale, one means deceased and five is a healthy dog. Brown says when the vets examined the dogs in Owen County, 85 percent scored two or below. She says the dogs were neglected, flea-infected, underweight and had ticks.
Though most of the dogs in Monroe County are getting healthier by the day, Sauder says they may have some problems acclimating to a new home after getting adopted.
"Sometimes they just need a little extra patience," he says. "They're not used to living in a house, being house-trained, and ones that have had to compete for food often can have food issues or be a little bit more scrounging in the trash and things for food because they always think that they need to find their next meal."
Sauder says that nearly half of the dogs have already been adopted.
