Delivered Into Loving Arms

Area Volunteers Rush to Comfort Some of the Nearly 1,000 Dogs Rescued From W.Va. Puppy Mill

Frankie's eyes drooped with fatigue. With grimy fur and nails a half-inch long, he wobbled on his paws after apparently spending most of his life in a wire cage in a West Virginia puppy mill.

But his biggest problem yesterday was fitting his wiener-shaped torso into the sink.

"I think he's too long," said Kirsten Porter, 29, plopping the 2-year-old dachshund's rear end under the kitchen faucet, then lathering him with shampoo.

For Frankie, it had been a long trek to his new foster home in Herndon from the factory-style, dog-breeding facility in Parkersburg, W.Va., from which he and nearly 1,000 other dogs, mostly purebreds, were rescued Saturday. Animal rescue groups called it the largest puppy mill bust in the state's history.

About 250 of the dogs -- mostly dachshunds but also Pekingese, Jack Russell terriers, poodles and other breeds -- arrived in the Washington area before dawn yesterday. Rescue groups placed them in foster homes to begin preparing them for permanent adoption as early as this weekend.

The Wood County Sheriff's Department had been receiving tips about cruel conditions at Whispering Oaks Kennel for a number of months, Deputy Sheriff Robert Sims said.

After coordinating with local and national animal rescue groups, the sheriff's department searched the property Saturday. Sims said deputies found eight buildings of various sizes, some holding as many as 80 dog pens.

"What really stuck with me is the smell," he said. "The feces and urine -- it was overpowering."

Scotlund Haisley, senior director of emergency services for the Humane Society of the United States, who helped coordinate the rescue, called it a "factory production farm for pets." Haisley recalled seeing rows of crates, some of the dogs with piles of feces below them, others kept in darkness with no access to fresh water. Others appeared to have never walked outside cages, he said, their nails having grown painfully long.

The facility's owner turned the animals over after agreeing to never own or operate a breeding facility again and was not charged, Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Ginny Conley said.

Haisley brought in a "strike team" of about 100 volunteers, including veterinarians from Florida, California and Canada to treat urgent medical needs.

The team removed 283 "critical cases" the first day of the rescue effort. Many of the evacuated animals were sick or injured; others were newborns or ones expected to give birth within hours. More than 20 animal rescue groups from as far away as Ohio and Delaware sent volunteers.