Rescued puppies arrive in Spokane

In a firm yet gentle voice, Richard Danner coaxed the puppies from their cages Friday afternoon.

“Come here little one. I’ll help you,” he said. “Come on …”

One by one the dogs ended up in his arms. Each was handed to volunteers at the Spokane Humane Society, who soothed the American Eskimo dogs with assuring tones and gentle strokes.

There were 45 dogs that arrived in Spokane, balls of white fluff with intelligent eyes. Fifty went to Seattle. Dozens more were sent elsewhere.

In all there were 371 of the little white dogs seized from the squalor of a Kennewick woman’s kennel – what the Humane Society of the United States called one of the worst puppy mills in memory.

Dave Richardson, executive director of the Spokane Humane Society, believes the episode can be transformed into a blessing.

“We’re going to find loving homes for dogs,” he said. “They are beautiful and sweet, and people want to help.”

Indeed, since news of the puppy mill raid broke this week, dozens of inquiries about the dogs have flooded animal shelters. Richardson welcomes every call and says his staff will do their best to match people and pets, whether they are the dogs taken from Kennewick, abandoned old mutts, or fussy purebreds that proved too much to handle for their owners.

Sue Anderson, who works as part of the Humane Evacuation Animal Rescue Team in Spokane, expects the American Eskimo dogs will be adopted quickly because of their white coat, small size and knack for making a good companion.

The breed is thought to have originated in the U.S. by German immigrants, Richardson said. They are active and bright, seek attention and make good family dogs, he added.

They like to bark and need their double white coats brushed often.

In Kennewick the little dogs were neglected. With the efficiency of a factory assembly line, each one arriving in Spokane received a shot to prevent canine distemper and parvovirus, then a squirt of bordetella vaccine up the nose to protect against kennel cough, and a swallow of yellow goop called Strongid to fight worms. Then it was off to rows of kennels, each holding two or three dogs, except in one case where the staff rejoined a mama and her four 5-week-old puppies.

One dog, an unnamed little pooch referred to as “No. 43” in paperwork, seemed ready for a fresh start. He was as excited as a child on the first day of vacation, jumping up and down and letting out sharp little yips. At last he sat down and even appeared to smile as his right ear flopped just a bit.

“Aren’t these puppies just incredible,” said Joni Cooper, a humane society staffer who cradled several in her arms and carried them into the kennels.

The 45 puppies arrived in Spokane in an air-conditioned, 50-foot-long trailer hauled by Danner, a truck driver and self-described dog person. He’s a dog rescuer by profession, going from one broken-up puppy mill to another to scoop up ill-treated dogs and drive them to shelters and new homes.

In Kennewick, he helped officials and a network of dog lovers save the animals. For some dogs it was too late. He described a sad scene of dead dogs and others left starving and sleeping in feces.

“We think she wanted to breed them down to toy dogs,” he said. “Sad. It just all got away from her.”

Ella Stewart, 66, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty for her operation.

Some of the dogs were caged in shopping carts. Some were kept in crates and rabbit enclosures.

Four puppies were dumped in a concrete tub topped with wire. They had red marks beneath their eyes, channels were tears drained from eyes burned by urine fumes.

“It was really nasty,” Danner said. “To be here must be heaven for them.”

The kennels were cleaned and the dogs clustered together. Rather than sever the bonds, the placement affords them a degree of familiarity while rewarding them with ample room, food and water, officials explained.

Richardson said the dogs are expected to quickly lose their pack mentality.

Each will be spayed or neutered, socialized with people, given health assessments and groomed, temperament trained and finally paired with the right person.

It’s the same treatment given to all of the 3,000 animals the humane society finds home for every year.

“We hope that these sorts of problems encourage people to adopt pets from shelters rather than buy from people running puppy mills,” Richardson said.

Firefighters rescue kitten stuck in pipe

By KELLY ONANIAN

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

June 08, 2009 6:00 AM

WAREHAM — Firefighters are known to rescue cats in trees but on Friday, Onset firefighters saved a kitten that was stuck in a PVC pipe for days.

The kitten, named Piper by volunteers at A Helping Paw Animal Shelter, was discovered by Onset resident Myrna Amado as she walked between her properties on Aunt Hannah's Lane.

For several days, she had heard a strange noise coming from one of her garages.

On Friday, she discovered the kitten, its face swollen, stuck in the pipe on the side of the garage.

"I followed the noise, pulled away all the debris and stuff covering the wall, and I couldn't believe it when I saw its face," Amado said.

She carried the pipe to her brother's house, and the two of them could not free the cat.

"There was no Animal Control on duty, and the police didn't know what to do so we called the Onset Fire Department," she said. "They came over with Sawzalls, and cut the cat out. They were amazing."

Onset Fire Chief Howard Andersen said it took about an hour and a half to free Piper.

"We used cooking oil to grease the cat up and put a thin metal shield inside the pipe to make sure the saws and tools didn't harm the cat and we finally got it free," he said.

Unable to care for the cat, Amado brought Piper to A Helping Paw, where she is being nursed back to health.

She has a broken paw, but will be ready for adoption in a couple months.

Volunteers at A Helping Paw Animal Shelter are used to seeing their share of abandoned cats, but nothing prepared them for Friday.

A few hours before they received Piper, they took in a family of six cats and four kittens found dumped outside the Family Pet and Supply store on Cranberry Highway. The shelter also took in six abandoned cats found in a trailer in Bourne last week.

"It's just unreal to get 17 cats in a few days, but I hate to say it, it's a sign of the times. People have no money," shelter manager Lauren Biagiotti said.

"I've never seen it like this. There are just too many cats to count. ... It's a logistical nightmare. We should be called 'A Helping Paw Sandwich' because we're squeezing them in."

Family Pet and Supply owner Sheila Barry said it was the first time cats were left at her doorstep.

"I was shocked because the cats are all very friendly, adoptable, not feral, and I didn't want them put down," she said. "I don't know who did this, but I feel burned because I let my good customers put up postings if they are in a bind, but to dump cats at my door is just awful."

Biagiotti said many pet stores are seeing the same dumping problem.

"It's not just at shelters, but I'm hearing it's everywhere," she said. "My daughter works at PetSmart where people have left outside buckets of fish, guinea pigs, rats and other rodents. I also get at least ten calls a week from people that are becoming homeless and need to give up their pet."

Biagiotti wanted to remind the public that A Helping Paw offers spay/neuter assistance programs.

"We can help. One cat can birth seven kittens and within a year's time you could have a whole colony. It's not fair to them and it's not fair to us. All it takes is a few minutes. Just come to us."

A Helping Paw is a non-profit shelter that also runs Whisker's Thrift Shop, which it relies on to pay for spaying and neutering costs. Biagiotti said donations and purchases at the thrift shop are so low, it is getting increasingly hard to care for the cats, which they must spay and/or neuter before adopting them out.

News story about the SPCA wildfire animal rescue