PAWS Assists with Pomeranian Chinese Crested Puppy Mill Bust
The last 72 hours has been quite a whirlwind for PAWS. Our volunteers in Memphis were contacted by a rural shelter just a few miles away with a dramatic SOS call. A cruelty case involving a puppy mill and exotic animal collection received a ruling in favor of the animals! After much back and forth, the court decided that 40+ dogs on the property could be released to rescue groups.
Over the last week, our amazing volunteers in Memphis have been making frequent trips to this small pound that has never experienced anything of this magnitude. They have been attempting to help with basic triage. The descriptions of what they found are heartbreaking… One Chinese Crested dog needed to be put to sleep because he had developed a painful and fatal abscess beneath his mats. Many of the dogs were so matted that they could not walk. These animals had been forced to live for years in urine and feces- all for the sake of profit. But today changes everything. Today is the last day these dogs will be forced to live in the cruel confines of a small crate….
What has shocked our volunteers more than anything is the spirit of these dogs. While all of them are understandably a little shell-shocked, the majority of them are sweet, loving dogs. Any dog from a puppy mill background will be shy and undersocialized, but the few dogs we have already placed into foster homes are thriving. We are so encouraged by their resilience and are working as quickly as possible to get them out of their current pound environment and into loving home.
We need help from the PAWS community as fast as possible! Almost all of these dogs are still at the pound in need of immediate medical care. To help these dogs, we need donations and offers of foster and adoptive homes to pour in today! Please do not delay in responding to this emergency! Watch our website for frequent updates!
How You Can Help
Some of the First “After” Photos
Amazing what a bath and some grooming can do- mats cut off of one dog weighed over 15lbs! Many more “happy” photos to come!
And meet the first two puppy mill survivors available for adoption- Claire and Clark! Click on their pictures to learn more about them!
