Hundreds of Dogs Saved from Puppy Mill

Hundreds of Dogs Saved from Puppy Mill
8/27/08 - AP

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (Aug. 26) - The longtime owner of a Parkersburg-area dog kennel has surrendered her approximately 1,000 dogs to humane officials after authorities executed a search warrant on the property over the weekend.

Sharon Roberts, who has operated Whispering Oaks Kennels since 1961, also agreed never to operate a dog-breeding business again.

Approximately 1,000 dogs were rescued from the Whispering Oaks Kennels in Parkersburg, W.Va. The dogs were never let out of their cages and rarely felt human touch. Kennel owner Sharon Roberts agreed to give up the animals and never breed dogs again in exchange for not going to jail.

"They said 'If you don't voluntarily give up the dogs, we will arrest you and put you in jail and charge a fine for each dog here,'" Roberts said Monday. "What would you do?"

Authorities said the dogs were never let out of their cages and rarely, if ever, touched by a human being.

"I equate this to living in one room of my house for all of my life and somebody just dropping groceries by once a week, not a lot of stimulation," said Maryann Hollis, executive director of the Humane Society of Parkersburg. "This is not what dogs were put on this planet for."

Roberts disputes the allegation that the dogs had no human contact. "How can you raise dogs without worming them and vaccinating them, trimming their toenails and grooming them?"

"We petted them and played with them and held them," she said. "They rode around on a golf cart with us. They were very well socialized."

Rescuers said the dogs, mostly purebred dachshunds, stumble when they try to walk on grass, tile or carpet.

"Some of them, you put them on the ground and they don't know what it is because they've lived their entire life on wire mesh," said Deputy Robert Sims of the Wood County Sheriff's Office.

But Roberts, 72, said all the pens were made of vinyl-coated wire, not mesh, and that they opened to covered exercise pens.

"All the dogs had food and water in front of them at all times," she said, adding that she and her four full-time and two part-time employees cleaned the cages every day.

Hollis said some of the dogs looked well fed, but that she's "seen some where the spine's been showing."

"You have to understand, in an environment with four or five in a kennel, they're competing for food," she said. "They become a pack ... fighting for resources."

Both Hollis and Sims said the buildings where the dogs were kept lacked air conditioning and that temperatures hovered in the mid-to upper 90s over the weekend.

Sims first arrived on the property Saturday to serve a search warrant while investigating anonymous complaints of improper discharge of dog-related pollution into a dry creek bed.

"You simply can't describe the overwhelming smell of the ammonia, the feces," Sims said of the dog runs. "And these were kept decently clean. But still, the smell was just horrible."

Samples have been sent to a lab and investigators are awaiting an analysis to determine whether to issue citations for environmental violations. No animal neglect charges will be filed because of Roberts' agreement to give up the dogs and get out of the dog-breeding business.

"She was trying to care for the animals the best way she could, but it was just impossible to care for that many dogs properly with the staff that the kennel had," Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Ginny Conley.

Most of the animals " which range in age from day-old newborns to several years old " were in relatively good health, although Hollis said there are a few that look to be suffering from mange, hypoglycemia and heat exhaustion. One dog is partially paralyzed, but the Best Friends Animal Society has committed to taking care of it for the rest of its life and is even outfitting it with a cart so that it can get around, Hollis said.

Roberts' husband, Edwin, 74, was arrested Sunday on charges of assault of a police officer and obstructing a police officer. According to the criminal complaint, he repeatedly refused to put down a chain saw he was using to cut brush near one of the dog runs while the animals were being removed. He allegedly raised the saw toward one deputy and revved it before putting it down.

Roberts said her husband had ear plugs in while using the chain saw and didn't hear the requests to turn it off.

The animals have been temporarily moved to a Parkersburg warehouse. Each must be seen by a veterinarian and vaccinated before being taken to rescue sites across the country for rehabilitation.

In addition to housebreaking them, the dogs must be socialized before they can be put up for adoption, said Hollis.

"These dogs have never been outside of that environment. Everything is new to them," she said, explaining that experiences such as car rides and going for walks on a leash are foreign to them.

Animal rescue organizations from across the country are volunteering in the effort, which Hollis says could easily cost $200,000.

The time and money is worth it, she said.

"They're happy now, they've settled in," she said of the rescued dogs. "They come to you with these bright eyes, saying 'Thank you.'"