GALVESTON — The Galveston County Animal Shelter today begins adopting out 112 animals taken last week in a raid on what officials here called a puppy mill.

Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Mike Nelson awarded custody of all but four of the animals to the shelter after a hearing Wednesday morning in his Santa Fe courtroom.

Nelson allowed Kathy Wilson, who had kept the animals on her Algoa property, to keep four of the dogs. She had described them as longtime pets.

However, not among the four she picked Wednesday at the shelter was one of the oldest dogs. The dog was one she had described in court Wednesday as a pet — a blind dog with a terminal case of heartworms.

“Puppy mill” is a derisive term to describe a high-volume dog-breeding facility in which the animals are often confined in small cages and bred constantly until they can no longer do so. At that point, they are often killed, left to die or given to animal-rescue groups.

Officials found the animals a week ago after responding to an anonymous tip about animals being kept for breeding in atrocious conditions.

Animal-control officer Joshua Henderson described the animals’ living conditions as “absolute chaos” — pens in which long-dry water bowls were full of excrement, large groups of animals shared sparse portions of food and filthy animals with matted fur.

Wilson told the judge she had not been able to care for the animals as well as usual because she had been ill.

“I got in over my head,” Wilson said.

She also said the animals appeared to have no food because feeding time was in the evening, and animal control came about 11 a.m. on Feb. 14.

The seizure made local headlines and received coverage on television news programs in Houston.

As a result, county animal services manager Kim Schoolcraft said the animal shelter had been bombarded with people looking to adopt the 87 dogs seized Wednesday and the 12 puppies born to seized dogs since then. She said she hoped that people not able to adopt animals from that group would pick other animals at the shelter.

“We’re going to end up with more people wanting to adopt these animals than we have animals from this case,” she said. “However, we also have plenty of animals here from other places, who would make wonderful pets and who also need homes. Our purpose here is to save the lives of these animals. They all deserve a second chance.”

Schoolcraft also said people who buy dogs from breeders should be wary if those breeders do not want to show them where the puppies came from.

“If they want to meet at McDonald’s to sell the puppy, that should raise suspicions,” she said. “If people saw the horrible conditions the parent animals are subjected to, in order to produce that cute puppy, no one with a conscience would be able to take one.”

The seizure included 99 dogs of varying breeds, including poodles, Maltese and mixed-breeds. Officials also took in four cats and 10 sugar glider squirrels. The squirrels will not go to adoptive homes. Instead, they will go to a sugar glider rescue group or the Houston SPCA, where doctors can sterilize them before releasing them.

How to Help:

Anyone interested in adopting an animal from the Galveston County Animal Shelter can visit the shelter at 3412 Loop 197 North in Texas City. Adoptions from last week’s puppy-mill seizure will be limited to one per family, and all animals will be spayed or neutered before adoption. The center opens today at 11 a.m.Related articles:

• Some animals remain from "puppy mill" seizure 03/15/07
• Hundreds line up to adopt 'puppy mill' dogs 02/23/07
• Texas City Animal Shelter needs help after puppy mill raid 02/18/07
• Shelter Full After Animals Seized 02/17/07

For More Information Contact:
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
409-938-2211 or 409-392-0007
kkoopman@gchd.org