May 22, 2008

COLUMBUS, N.J. -- New homes have already been found for more than two dozen puppies found sick and covered in their own feces last month during a raid of what police called an illegal dog sales operation in New Jersey.

Officers from the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found the 28 pups crammed into cages in a basement closet at a home in Franklinville in South Jersey on April 19.

“When I opened the closet, it was about 85 degrees in there,” said Lt. Col. Sy Goldberg of the NJSPCA. “No ventilation. The dogs were covered in feces and sick. There were seven to a cage.”

The dogs were mostly mixed breeds, but also included poodles, Malteses, terriers and Shih Tzus, according to Lynn Pasquarella, manager of Columbus Central Veterinary Hospital, where the dogs were treated.

“It was a challenge,” Pasquarella told Pet Pulse of handling so many puppies at once. “We were expecting possibly ten, and they called that morning and said there was 25 to 30. I mean, ten would’ve been a lot, 28 was amazing.

“But we had a lot of people come together very quickly to help us with getting them cleaned up. The doctor did just one exam after another, with one person recording results.”

The dogs suffered from intestinal parasites and upper respiratory diseases after being kept in cramped, crowded conditions with inadequate ventilation.

“If one puppy gets sick when you’ve got that many together, of course they’re all going to be exposed,” Pasquarella said.

At the time they were brought in, the puppies were between six weeks and 12 weeks old. About a month later they are now much healthier, Pasquarella says.

“At this point it looks like everybody’s stabilized and on the road to good health,” she said.

Most important, all the pups have been found good homes. After being cleaned up and examined, 18 went into foster homes that same day.

“A lot of people took them in to ‘foster’ them and then wound up falling love with them,” Pasquarella said. “So they want to proceed with formal adoption,” she said, adding that only the paperwork remains for that process to be complete.

The hospital’s huge undertaking has become a most successful one.

“It was a large one, but I think once people saw and heard about the situation, most of the dogs were placed within our network of support system, our friends, our clients, word of mouth,” Pasquarella said. “They all really stayed close to the inner circle of the people involved.

“They just needed some TLC and a home where they were properly cared for.”

The owner of the home raided, 57-year-old William C. Roberts, was charged with a fourth-degree criminal offense of willfully selling an animal with a communicable disease. Roberts purchased the pups from Pennsylvania puppy mills as part of an illegal dog sales operation that netted $200,000 annually, authorities say.

Charges were pending against Roberts related to failure to properly care for the animals, as well as potential violations of animal, health and criminal laws, according to the NJSPCA. Roberts also illegally distributed medications that only veterinarians are licensed to provide, Goldberg says.

During the hospital’s upcoming pet fair on June 1, the puppies are invited to a big reunion.

“It was very heartwarming to be able to help the SPCA in an endeavor of this nature, and to see everyone come together and get these babies the homes they deserve,” Pasquarella said.

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