Donations, Fosters, Help Needed for the Seized Ohio dogs!

Message from the AMTC Rescue Chairperson:

I have been in contact with the Columbiana County Humane Society in Ohio. They have asked us to provide any assistance that we can, including taking as many Manchesters into AMTC Rescue foster homes as possible. The shelter told me that the seized dogs are purebred rat terriers, purebred Manchesters and Rat Terrier/Manchester mixes. The dogs range in age from 8 months to 8 years old. There was a litter of 4 week old puppies taken into the care of the vet who assisted in the seizure because they were not doing well. So far, about 120 dogs have been seized. They do not have an exact count because they are still trying to catch them. Some were living in the house, some were living in a kennel and some were living loose on the property. The loose ones are the most feral and difficult to capture.

I am writing to you to ask for donations to the AMTC Rescue fund and just as important, I need volunteers to foster as many dogs as possible. We can only take in as many dogs as we can house, so please contact me asap if you can help with fostering. Before we can take in any dogs, we need an experienced Manchester owner in Ohio to volunteer to go to the shelter and help them sort out the dogs by breed. We need to know how many purebred Manchesters are there and their sex and age. If you can assist the animal shelter and AMTC Rescue in this way, please email or call me immediately at amtcrescue@bleusprings.net or 585-335-8401.

Thank you,

Kristina Barlak
AMTC Rescue Chair

American Manchester Terrier Club
http://clubs.akc.org/mtca/rescue/
amtcrescue@bleusprings.net

140 Dogs (Mostly Manchester's) Seized from Ohio Dog Hoarder!

Story from 33 WYTV News:

More than one hundred and twenty Manchester Terriers and mixes are being housed at an undisclosed location, after being rescued from a home on Freemen Road near Lisbon Wednesday.

"There were quite a number in the home, and the remainder were in outdoor kennels.", says Brenda Austin, from the Humane Society of Columbiana County.

Humane agents and volunteers are busy feeding and caring for the animals, in hopes most of them can find loving homes and owners. Some of the dogs, especially the young puppies are ready to be adopted right away. Austin says the rest of the animals will be sent to various rescue shelters throughout the area.

"People would have to understand that any of the adult dogs really need a lot of work, they're not used to people.", says Austin.

Unfortunately some of the dogs were so wild, they had to be put down.

"Some of our volunteers did get bit, so we put some down because of that, some medical, there were a couple in pretty bad shape out in the field, so they were euthanized by the veterinarian.", says Dean Vickers, Ohio Director for the Humane Society of the United States.

Vickers says the owner willingly relinquished the dogs. No charges have been filed but they could be coming. For now, agents can only guess why one home would hoard more than one hundred hounds.

"People just have a lot of animals sometimes that they think that they love, or they feel that they love, but unfortunately the standards of care become substandard at some point when they get overwhelmed.", says Austin.

It's unclear if the original owner will get any of the animals back. That's a decision that will likely be made by a judge in a court of law. If you're interested in adopting one of the dogs or just to donate supplies, you can call the Humane Society of Columbiana County at 330-332-2600. Humane Society of Columbiana County has also set up a temporary office in Salem to collect supplies, food, donations. Agents say this is their largest single rescue ever, and the most expensive as well.