Roughly 40 dogs rescued from terrible conditions

Jack Ferris by Jack Ferris

Volunteers have been working around the clock to save dozens of dogs from the apparently ‘deplorable conditions’ they were found in.

We first learned of this story late Wednesday night as three different agencies were working to save these dogs in south Stevens County.

It’s pretty remarkable what these dogs have been through. The Clayton Fairgrounds is donating their resources to house these dogs while heart and rescue for all figure out permanent situations.

Wednesday night was the first night most of these dogs have spent inside in years.

“When we first drove up, you’re going up a hill and there is a couple dogs, and then you see more dogs, and you see dogs chained to trees,” said Jamie McAtee, from Rescue4All, a local non-profit organization that rescues and fosters animals in the Spokane area.

“They lived out their whole lives like that. There was a mom and two five-week-old puppies that were in an enclosure with a blue tarp over it. When I stepped in, it was literally the most deplorable conditions you could possibly imagine. You step down and your whole shoe just ends up to mid shoe in feces,” said McAtee.

Over the last day and a half, Rescue4All has been working with Spokane’s Humane Evacuation Animal Rescue Team, or HEART, to get these roughly 40 dogs to safety. It’s turned out to be a tremendous task they wouldn’t be able to execute without help from the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputy Jessica Garza, with the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office was a part of the rescue team. “We had received calls, and we had two deputies respond two nights ago. When they realized what the situation entailed, they contacted me as I’ve done some rescues of smaller dogs before,” she said. “We went back to the property last night. The owners were cooperative and wanted the best for the dogs. They assisted us in getting as many as we could get loaded up before we lost daylight.”

The owners will likely face no charges, because it was clear they had provided food and water for the dogs, despite the reportedly horrendous living conditions. Under Stevens County law, anyone can have up to 25 breeding pairs, totalling 50 dogs, and puppies under 6 months do not count.

“Without the owners working with us in this situation, our hands would’ve been tied. There was no criminal infractions, there was no violations of [WA state law]. They did have food,” said Garza.

While no laws were technically violated, Stevens County severely lacks the resources to handle so many displaced dogs. So they’re turning to the public for help.

Garza said they need a wide array of supplies. “Lightweight blankets, towels, rags, cleaning supplies, people to doante food, dog food. We’re not picky at this point, anything is better than what they were eating. We also need people that have knowledge of other organizations that we can get these dogs into that are reputable organizations, because this is too much for us to take on.”

The dogs need to be triaged before Rescue4All is comfortable putting them up for adoption. So while eager parents might have to wait a week or two, these dogs desperately need time, money and attention.

If you’d like to help, visit the Rescue4All website, here.

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