Local organizations help with animal rescue

Veterinarian Dr. Lauren Bowling said the stench was horrible.
“It smelled of stool,” she said, “of dog poop and cat poop.”
It was more than that. It was the smell of more than 200 animals – neglected, abused and mistreated.
The Humane Society of the United States, in partnership with the Monroe County Humane Association and several other local organizations, rescued 67 animals from a puppy mill that forced more than 200 animals to live in inhumane conditions on Oct. 8.
Officials said this was an isolated incident and that the mill is still in business.
Despite their best efforts, due to a loophole in the laws regarding puppy mills in the state of Indiana, the rescuers could only retrieve 67 of the animals and had to leave about 150 animals behind in poor conditions through a voluntary surrender by the puppy mill owner.
Officials declined to name the mill or give any information about its owner.
Bowling said she thought the rescue was an exhilarating experience.
“The rescue itself was almost like an adrenaline rush,” Bowling, a veterinarian at the Bloomington Cat Hospital said. “They asked me to go over to the house to help out. When we actually got on site, there were 12 or 13 cars parked outside of the house.”
A majority of the animals went to the humane society in Missouri while about 20 went to an organization in Illinois who helped with the rescue. Eleven of the animals went to the Bloomington Animal Shelter for care and to be prepared for adoption. Of those, two were adult dogs without any puppies, and two others were adult dogs with litters of pups.
“All of them have of course been bathed, treated for fleas, vaccinated, been looked at by a vet and are in various stages of being made ready to be put up for adoption,” said Laurie Ringquist, director of the Bloomington Animal Shelter.
Rescuers were upset they could not take all the animals away.
“It’s tragic,” said Sarah Hayes, CEO of the Monroe County Humane Association. “It’s very sad to have to leave any of them in that situation. We have to feel good about what we were able to do, but it’s very hard to leave so many behind.”
Bowling said she believes legislation needs to be passed regarding the situation.
“If the counties don’t have legislation on it, there has to be some state-wide legislation.” Bowling said. “Unfortunately, Indiana is really bad about the number of unregulated puppy mills they have.”
Hayes agreed and said the loophole in the law that allows for mills that do not sell directly to pet stores to forego inspection must be corrected.
“We have to strengthen the Indiana Animal Cruelty Code,” Hayes said, “and we have to instate some sort of legislation that holds these commercial breeding facilities to a higher standard.”
Currently, one of the adult dogs mentioned has been spayed and is up for adoption. The two with puppies will be unavailable until the puppies have reached the point where they can live on their own. The final dog is being checked for tumors on its body that might be cancerous. Should they be found to be benign, the dog will be spayed and put up for adoption.
To contact the Bloomington Animal Shelter regarding the animals, call 349-3492.