“We received an anonymous tip that somebody was selling dogs for $25 a piece,” Lt. Joe Parks of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.
The 29 dogs included six German shepherds, Maltese, and peekapoo breeds, he said. There was also one dog with a litter that was a week old. One puppy was infected with a serious dog disease.
“We received information from a local veterinarian that dogs had contracted the deadly canine parvo virus,” Parks said.
Parks went Tuesday to Hatcher Hollow Road with First Sgt. M.R. Crowder of the West Virginia State Police Princeton detachment and a Mercer County animal control officer. The two owners were living in a doublewide trailer with the dogs, which were being kept in barricaded rooms.
Dogs were being kept in “very unhealthy and unsanitary conditions,” Parks said, who added “I’ve seen cleaner outdoor kennels.”
The dogs were confiscated and taken to the Mercer County Animal Shelter, which is seeking donations in order to care for the new arrivals, he said. The animals will be tested for parvo. Parks said the owners told investigators that the dogs had no vaccinations for any diseases including rabies. None of the dogs had county tags or any other documentation.
“We’re going to have to start from the ground up on each and every dog,” he stated.
No charges had been filed as of Wednesday, but the Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office will review the case, Parks said.
(Bluefield Daily Telegraph - Aug 14, 2014)
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