DOG DAYS ARE OVER! 41 Yorkshire terriers rescued after WEEK-LONG search of hoarder’s home after owner’s death
KENT, UNITED KINGDOM: In a peculiar tale of animal rescue, more than 40 terriers, in a bungalow at Rainham, Kent, were saved after their owner, a clutter-encouraging hoarder, died. The deceased’s home was so cluttered that it took the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) a whole week to find all the pets! Dogs that are as young as four weeks old were found at the home, where the owner was found dead through a routine police welfare check.
It was thought that the bungalow was home to only six Yorkshire terriers, but as it turned out, the RSPCA ended up rescuing 41 dogs from the premises. It was hard to access some parts of the home because of the huge piles of clutter that they had to get through, making the process of finding the pets even harder. Some of the oldest pets that were found are more than 10 years old. The deceased pet owner was found dead on Sunday, January 15. Following the death of the pet owner, the pooches were left to fend for themselves.
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'We went to the house every day for over a week'
Brian Milligan, a member of the animal rescue team said, "All in all this was a difficult exercise, which saw the RSPCA deploy significant resources to clear the property and ensure we found all the dogs…We went to the house every day over a week to conduct extensive searches to rescue every dog. In the end we had to clear every room," according to the BBC. The officers of the RSPCA returned to the home again to make sure that no dogs were left behind.
All the rescued dogs have been vetted and have received medical treatment to get them ready to be adopted and taken in into new homes. Seven of the rescued dogs have unfortunately died and the others have been taken on by local charities. The rescue team had maintained contact with a relative of the deceased owner, who seemed to be completely in the dark about the extent of the situation.
‘These dogs are fearful’
A member of one of the animal charities that had undertaken care for fourteen of the dogs had stated, “Many of these dogs are fearful, which is understandable as they have endured such a bad experience. It is going to be a slow process to help them feel safe again and find them new homes, so we will be taking things at their pace. But as far as health is concerned there was nothing major, although there were some with dental issues,” according to the Daily Mail.