31 Dogs Rescued From North Adams Property
 This little guy was rescued after health inspectors and the animal control officer found he was living with 30 others in poor living conditions. |
Update on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 6:49 p.m.:
Police Director Michael Cozzaglio said the police are conferring with the district attorney's office on "numerous charges" that are pending with the owner. "We have 31 animal cruelty charges," he said.
Update on Friday, Oct. 25, at 6:59 p.m. with comments from Berkshire Humane Society: The Laboradors taken from an alleged puppy mill on Wednesday already have a stack of applicants looking to adopt them.
The Berkshire Humane Society took in nine of the mostly yellow Labs and says its has 30 adoption applications.
"We will contact those families for meet-ups as they are processed. Thank you everyone for your interest!," the society wrote on its Facebook page early Friday. (We have a call into the shelter.)
"We've had 50-plus phone calls but we have a waiting list we go through," said Executive Director John Perreault later Friday afternoon.
Perreault said "probably within the Bekshires this is not typical" in getting so many animals at once. The good thing, he said, was that the shelter had the room when the call came in.
He described the Labs as all being in "pretty good shape" with some minor ear and skin infections. They were all bathed and vaccinated and two have already been neutered.
Some are outgoing, some are shy, but none have had any familiarity with leashes or collars.
"They have 8-month-old bodies but are more like 8-week-old puppies," said Perreault. "We have to pick them up and carry them to where we need them to go."
The dogs should all hopefully be going to their new homes by the end of next week.
The director said too many people think purebreds have no effect on pet overpopulation, but it's not true.
"One out of every three dogs in a shelter is a purebred," he said.
There are now more than 50 applications to adopt one of the nine Labs, but there are also two Chihuahuas, an Australian cattle dog and a black Lab mix, as well as five other dogs, at the shelter who need homes.
Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter Director Laurie Vilord said her shelter took a mother with 10 newborns and five 1- to 1 1/2-year-old dogs. She said the private, non-profit shelter will find foster families for the younger dogs until they are ready for adoption; the mom and puppies will be cared for at the shelter.
"We don't adopt out any animals that are not spayed or neutered," she said. Asked to comment if there were difficulties in taking in animals like this in an emergency, she responded: "That's what we do."
The shelter is need of donations of food and other supplies to care for the animals. You can donate through their wish list on Amazon.
Northern Berkshire Animal Rescue (also operating as Great DANE Rescue) is accepting donations through PayPal to aid in costs for sheltering and caring for two of the pregnant females that will give birth soon.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Local animal shelters have taken in 31 Labrador retrievers that were surrendered after the health inspector and animal control officer deemed the living conditions were unfit for animals.
Tags: animal control, animal rescue, animal shelter, dogs, domestic animals,
