An update tonight to answer the many inquiries we've been getting about the 164 Pomeranian dogs rescued two weeks ago from a U-Haul truck. It was part of a puppy mill bust caught on camera by Contact 13.
Animal Foundation tells they're still finalizing details of an adoption plan and hope to have those details available tomorrow. They say it comes down to the logistics with such a high number of dogs.
A lineup of five furry faces shows some of the Poms recovering from surgery. Officials say few if any of the animals had been spayed or neutered and every one must undergo that surgery before the Animal Foundation can adopt them out.
Since receiving the dogs on November 30, volunteers and staff at the shelter have been conducting medical and behavior evaluations, and getting them groomed. The grooming process has taken up to two hours per dog, depending on how matted their fur was. Some had to be completely shaved.
"There's a lot of animal lovers in Sandy Valley that were very upset about this situation," says Gina Greisen with Nevada Voters for Animals.
Our cameras watched, as police and animal control unloaded crate after crate that had been stacked floor to ceiling in a U-Haul truck late at night on November 29.
"Those dogs had been on that truck for probably at least a good 36 hours," says Greisen.
Allegedly without food, water or proper ventilation, sources say they'd been moved to avoid authorities serving a warrant on a Sandy Valley property.
It's owned by Noela Velasco--a former B-movie actress in the 1970s who left Nye County two years ago after run-ins with animal control. She's now suspected of hoarding and running a puppy mill just over the California state line.
"Whatever the fullest extent of the law's going to be, we want the maximum penalty," says Greisen.
Metro's Animal Cruelty task force is still investigating and Velasco has not been arrested or charged with a crime. California authorities tell us she was definitely in violation of San Bernardino county code--which would have only allowed her to have four dogs.
