Saturday, June 13, 2009

80 dogs seized in Wright County



By: CORY DE VERA • NEWS-LEADER

The Wright County Sheriff's Department and the Humane Society of Missouri seized about 80 dogs and one rabbit from a property north of Mansfield, Sheriff Glen Adler said late Friday.

Tim Rickley of the Humane Society said the group had advised a mother and son in Webster County that they needed to improve the care of their dogs. Members of the society had been to the property Wednesday after receiving a call expressing concern about the animals.

"We found about 80 dogs living in deplorable conditions -- pens filled with feces and urine, overcrowded. A lot of the dogs were very thin, with severe matting of their coat," Rickley said.

"One of more alarming things was that these dogs were being fed raw meat as their only source of nutrition."

When the Humane Society and Webster County Sheriff visited the property Friday, the owners and the animals were gone.

Hours later, someone called the Wright County Sheriff with a tip that the operation may have moved to a property north of Mansfield, in Wright County, Adler said.

A search warrant was served Friday evening, but the exact address was not released by officials..."  More

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