JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A group of animal advocates were preparing on Friday to weather a massive winter storm with 80 dogs inside a warehouse after the animals were rescued from a rural Mississippi property.
After the Lee County Sheriff’s Office called them for help, members of Paws of War, a New York-based nonprofit that rescues animals and places them with veterans and first responders, raced across the country to rescue the more than 200 dogs from the home in Tupelo, about 190 miles (300 kilometers) north of Jackson, on Wednesday.
Robert Misseri, the organization’s co-founder, said his team worked through the night Thursday, calling shelters and asking them to pick up as many dogs as possible. With 80 dogs still left, Misseri said his team is now preparing to bed down in a warehouse and wait out the severe weather.
The weather and the property’s rural location have posed major challenges to the rescue operation, Misseri said, calling it “a perfect storm.”
Shelters that would normally offer to take some of the dogs are refusing due to travel safety concerns, he said. Nearby stores are running out of essential supplies his team needs as people stock up ahead of the storm. Misseri said it has also been difficult to plan and coordinate because there is little cell service in the area.
Misseri described the property where the dogs were living as a “house of horrors,” with the skeletal remains of dogs decomposing in the yard and feces everywhere. The dogs, he said, were living both inside and outside of the home.
“It’s rewarding seeing them come off the property for the first time, knowing that they will ultimately wind up on someone’s couch. But to think that they suffered up there for all these years in silence,” Misseri said before trailing off.
Thirteen of the dogs are now at the Northshore Humane Society in Covington, Louisiana. The nonprofit’s team traversed more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) to the Tupelo area on Wednesday for what they dubbed “Operation: Tupelo Tails.”
“A lot of these dogs have scars on their faces, which is evidence that they were probably sparring with the other dogs for food,” said Scott Bernier, Northshore Humane Society’s CEO. “So it’s a bad condition. Not something we ever like to see.”
Scout Cannizzaro, a veterinary technician at the Northshore Humane Society, said some of the dogs had upper respiratory infections and skin conditions, and he suspects some have heartworm.
Northshore Humane Society is now trying to get as many dogs as possible into foster homes because their building is old and doesn’t retain heat well. Bernier assured that any animals left at the shelter when the storm hits will be warm and safe.
At the warehouse, Misseri said the dogs will be kept warm with several heaters. Members of the Paws of War team will stay at the warehouse with the animals during the storm and play classical music to soothe them at night.