An animal rescue group has removed 23 dogs and puppies — some as young as five weeks old — from a trailer home in rural Tennessee after they were severely neglected.
Animal Rescue Corp (ARC) rescued the animals from the residence in Crossville on Friday, Dec. 31, according to a post on the group’s official Facebook page.
ARC — which dubbed the rescue mission “Operation Countdown” — said that the dogs had been living “in waste and neglect” and “trash and debris littered the structure.”
“ARC responders found 23 small mix-breed dogs running loose on urine-soaked, feces-covered floors and broken furniture with make-shift fencing inside the trailer,” the organization wrote. “Seven young pups, only five weeks old, were found covered in feces.”
“Because of the lack of veterinary care and the unsanitary, inhumane living conditions, the dogs were suffering from internal and external parasites (such as fleas and ticks) and high ammonia exposure. The situation is the result of neglectful breeding of unaltered dogs in a confined space,” the ARC added.
The ARC detailed that they later transported the dogs from the property to their rescue facility in Gallatin — which is about 40 minutes east of Nashville.
“Each animal will receive a thorough veterinary exam, appropriate vaccinations and any necessary medical treatments until they are matched and transported to trusted shelter and rescue partner organizations that will ultimately adopt them into loving homes,” the group continued.
The ARC went on to state that the planning for the rescue operation began “when a concerned citizen reached out to the property occupant and offered to get them help and then reached out to ARC.”
“Occasionally, we are called out to properties that law enforcement doesn’t have any interest in pursuing,” an ARC representative told local news station WBIR 10.
“Because these were people that were trying to do a good thing at one point and then became overwhelmed by the task and lack of resources, and quickly get in over their head [with the dogs], and that’s kind of what was happening here on this property,” the representative continued.
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The rescue also said, per their Facebook post, that Operation Countdown was their third rescue mission in the past eight days in Tennessee.
Those interested in donating to the ARC in order to help the organization continue its ongoing mission to rescue animals in need and provide them with life-saving care can do so here.
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