Animal rescue seeks donations after 45 dogs rescued from home

By Taylor Thompson and Kristy Kepley-Steward

Click here for updates on this story

    MITCHELL COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — A western North Carolina animal rescue is asking for help after 45 dogs were rescued from a single home Wednesday, Oct. 11.

The Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office tells News 13 they received a tip about the situation and a deputy was sent to speak with the owner who agreed to give up the dogs.

Amber Lowery, the executive director of the Mitchell County Animal Rescue Group, said the sheriff’s department had received some complaints about the household the dogs came from, and added that their conditions were not ideal.

In conjunction with the sheriff’s department, the animal group went out to the home to do an investigation and described finding a lot of barking dogs, and that there were just dogs all over.

Lowery said the dogs did not appear to be malnourished. The sheriff’s office echoed that sentiment, saying, “The dogs are in good shape but she (the owner) was in over her head.”

No charges have been filed against the owner.

Authorities say the dogs are currently being housed in the new sheriff’s office location, where they’ve yet to begin remodeling.

“This is just a situation where the person helped a few people with dogs trying to take care of them and then it just kind of compiled and compiled,” she said.

She said that it just became entirely too much for one person to handle which resulted in them taking all 45 dogs.

“There was no abuse obviously. I mean this was a person that was very loving and worked very hard but it just became entirely too much for just one person,” she said.

She said the last 24 hours have been crazy and that this is only the beginning of a long couple of weeks, as they’re having to run the normal operations of the shelter, along with now caring for these 45 unexpected additions.

Right now, Lowery said the animal shelter’s biggest need is for rescue groups to come and take some of the dogs.

The shelter is also in great need of extra hands and experienced volunteers who can help walk the dogs and clean the crates.

The unexpected influx of animals also means with it comes a greater financial burden, so Lowery said donations of towels, toys, treats and food are greatly needed and appreciated.

While most of these dogs are not ready to be adopted yet, Lowery said if people would come to the shelter and adopt the dogs already there, it would help ease the burden at the temporary makeshift shelter.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.