More than 100 dogs were transported from Rescue the Animals in Abilene to Indiana last week, and volunteers said the condition of the dogs when they arrived was nothing short of upsetting.
The volunteers told our sister station WANE that the dogs arrived in a box truck that had reached temperatures of more than 120 degrees. When the animals were unloaded, the volunteers said several were unconscious and vomiting – signs of heat stroke.
“I’m real angry,” Veterinary Technician Melissa Saylor told WANE. “I’m real upset. Six of the dogs were taken away immediately by the [Allen County] sheriff’s department to get emergency medical attention, meaning their lives were in imminent danger.”
Paul Washburn, President of Abilene’s Rescue the Animals, SPCA chapter, said that these claims are still under investigation.
He said the video he has seen of the dogs’ arrival does not show any unhealthy animals, and he claims that none of the animals seized by the Sheriff’s Department had any life-threatening conditions.
Washburn also stated that his organization used a transport company which Resuce the Animals had used numerous times before, even for large-scale operations. Washburn said there have been no issues previously.
Washburn said he would release a more thorough statement once he became more familiar with what happened once the dogs arrived in Indiana.
(Information from bigcountryhomepage.com)
