Released by the SPCA of Texas
UPDATE: MCKINNEY/COLLIN COUNTY (KYTX) - Today, the SPCA of Texas received 52 dogs from a puppy mill that closed down. Earlier today, the SPCA of Texas picked up the animals from the Terrell property and transported them back to its Perry Animal Care Center in McKinney.
The SPCA of Texas has brought a total 353 animals into its two shelters in Dallas and McKinney in the last 48 hours.
On Tuesday, the SPCA of Texas took in 181 dogs and cats from the Louisiana SPCA and the Humane Society of South Mississippi to help those shelters respond to animals in need during and after the storm. The organization also seized 120 cruelly treated fowl, rabbits, dogs, cats and a duck yesterday from a property in Hunt County.
This large number of incoming animals has filled the SPCA of Texas' two North Texas-area shelters to bursting. The SPCA of Texas' mission is to provide animals exceptional care and a loving home, and in each of these cases, the organization responded to emergency situations where animals needed immediate help.
In an effort to create room for these incoming dogs and cats, the SPCA of Texas is offering a 50 percent discount off of all adoption fees for dogs and cats now through Friday. Normal hours for the Jan Rees-Jones Animal Care Center at 2400 Lone Star Drive in Dallas and the Russell H. Perry Animal Care Center at 8411 Stacy Rd. in McKinney are noon to 6 p.m., seven days a week. They are remaining open until 8 p.m. today.
To ensure proper space to care for all animals, the SPCA of Texas will continue to admit animals who were previously adopted at the SPCA of Texas and animals that owners bring to the organization to be humanely euthanized, however the admitting department will not be available to the general public until more space is made at the SPCA of Texas through adoptions.
The SPCA of Texas asks the community to come forward and open their homes and their hearts to these animals and the hundreds already waiting for homes in the SPCA of Texas' two North Texas-area shelters. The SPCA of Texas encourages people who have been considering adding a pet to their family to adopt and give these shelter animals a loving home.
HUNT COUNTY (KYTX) - Tuesday, under the authority of the Hunt County Constable, Precinct 1, the SPCA of Texas took custody of 120 animals - 90 fowl of various species, 12 rabbits, 12 cats, five dogs and one duck.
These animals were discovered on the same Hunt County property from which the organization seized 249 animals last month.
SPCA of Texas vehicles transported the fowl, rabbits and duck to the Perry Animal Care Center in McKinney and the dogs and cats to the Jan Rees-Jones Animal Care Center in West Dallas late yesterday, where they will be examined by medical staff and cared for until the custody hearing. The custody hearing will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 4 at 2 p.m. at the Hunt County Justice of the Peace Precinct 1, Place 2 Courthouse at 2801 Stuart Street in Greenville, TX.
One dead bird and one dead cat were found on the property. Seven dead birds were found at another location, where the animal owner had allegedly dumped the bodies.
As was the case the last time the SPCA of Texas took custody of animals from this property, from this same animal owner, the odor of feces was strong throughout the property. It appeared to the SPCA of Texas' Investigator that the owner had not cleaned up the property since the previous 249 animals had been seized from him.
The animals were living in feces-filled, overcrowded conditions in pens, cages and coops. Most of the animals were housed outside on the property, all of which was covered in feces and urine.
Several dogs were living in make-shift pens made of chicken wire. Some rabbits were housed in elevated hutches and the rest lived in make-shift chicken wire that were full of feces. Most of the fowl were running loose on the property, but others were kept in make-shift crates the size of shoe boxes, also made of chicken wire. Some of the animals did not have access to an appropriate water source, and the only water many of the animals had to drink was contaminated. Some of the animals appeared to be unhealthy.
"It is sadly not uncommon for us to see the same person start back up operating their breeding operation even after a seizure and civil proceedings take place," said Colby Grady, Chief Investigator for the SPCA of Texas. "There is no provision on the Justice of the Peace Court level to prevent people who have had animals seized from them from turning around and getting more animals."
The SPCA of Texas received two separate complaints of suspected animal cruelty going on at the property in the past few days. The SPCA of Texas Investigator and the Hunt County Constable, Precinct 1 visited the property on Aug. 28 and discovered that the new animals were living in the same inhumane conditions as the animals that had previously been seized. The Hunt County Constable and the SPCA of Texas concurred that it was in the animals' best interest to remove the animals, and the Hunt County Constable sought a seizure warrant.
More information on the animal seizure that took place on July 18.
An SPCA of Texas investigator visited the same property on July 5th and discovered the first group of animals' conditions. The SPCA of Texas attempted to work with the owner to bring the animals' conditions into compliance with Texas Health and Safety Code. When the SPCA of Texas' Investigator returned to the property on July 16th, the animals' conditions had deteriorated. The SPCA of Texas and the Hunt County Constable, Precinct 1 visited the property on Tuesday, July 17th, and at that time the Hunt County Constable and the SPCA of Texas concurred that it was in the animals' best interest to remove the animals, and the Hunt County Constable sought a seizure warrant.
During the last two visits to the property, a deceased goat and a deceased pig were found. The goat was found, bloated and stiff, in the front of the property on July 16th, and the piglet was found floating in his water source, which was contaminated, on July 17th. Additionally, the owner stated that they were selling the animals at a flea market.
On July 18, under the authority of the Hunt County Constable, Precinct 1, the SPCA of Texas took custody of 249 animals--186 fowl of various species, 32 rabbits, 13 cats, 11 dogs and seven piglets--from the property. The animals were not receiving adequate food, water, shelter or care. At a custody hearing in Greenville, TX on July 24 at the Hunt County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1, Place 2 courthouse, the SPCA of Texas received custody of those animals. Only a handful of the animals from this seizure are still available for adoption.
