Florida: Twelve dogs rescued from North Jacksonville home after being abandoned by evicted owner

FLORIDA -- More than a dozen dogs were abandoned at a home in North Jacksonville after their owner was evicted.

A viewer sent us pictures showing the dogs living in filth after they were left.

Our crew was at the home on Sarasota Lane as several volunteers with local rescues brought the dogs out one by one and put them in crates.

We spoke with one of the rescuers, Lori Berry, who said she was able to get in touch with the company now in charge of the property who had shown up to change the locks.

"So I got a hold of management, and management said 'go get them,'" said Berry.

That company, Vendor Resource Management based out of Texas, is a solutions provider to the mortgage servicing industry.

A spokesperson said that they feared because of legalities, Animal Control would not be able to seize the dogs for a period of time, which is why they wanted a rescue organization to help.

Berry said there were 13 dogs at the home, and they were only able to recover 12 of them.

She said they found one under a shed in the backyard where several of the dogs were huddled together, and that dog didn't make it.

Many of the dogs recovered were very thin, which was easy to see as the volunteers placed them in kennels on the driveway.

 

During the rescue which lasted hours Wednesday afternoon, neighbors came out of their homes and stopped their cars in the street, telling Action News Jax that they were happy someone was helping the animals, but none of them knew how many had been left to fend for themselves.

"The ones that were outside are scared of people, they are up to 10-15, one of them is almost 20 pounds underweight," said Berry.

We watched as Berry and other volunteers held one of the puppies and wrapped his legs. He was one the only one that didn't go directly into a crate after the rescue.

"From the looks of it there was a break in the lower leg and it didn't heal correctly and abscessed." said Berry.

 

Berry said the others showed signs of ear mites, fleas, skin conditions, along with being malnourished.

All of the volunteers expressed how relieved they were to be able to get these dogs to a rescue.

They tell us that they all do what they do because they know rescues are strapped for resources.

All of the dogs were taken to S.A.F.E Rescue in St. Augustine.

Berry said this is just the beginning of a lengthy process for the animals.

 

"These dogs have to be walked everyday, they have to be played with and assessed. have to go through training because all of these dogs have no training and they have no socialization," Berry said.

(ActionNewsJax.com - Jan 27, 2016)