50 dogs found in dire circumstances; neighbors enable massive rescue
This past month the local news was filled with a sad and horrific story, made sadder and even more horrific because it isn’t the first time we’ve heard it. A woman in Chandler was arrested and charged with 55 counts of animal abuse, the same number of counts of animal cruelty, and one felony count of vulnerable adult abuse.
Police say that the woman had more than 50 dogs in her home. Some were special needs animals; the woman said that she ran a rescue for such dogs. Unfortunately, according to Chandler Police and Arizona Humane Society officials, who made a welfare check after neighbors expressed concern, the dogs were actually in need of rescue, having been denied medical attention and forced to live in their own waste.
There were dead animals on the premises, including several stored in the woman’s freezer. The woman’s elderly mother was also exposed to the dangerous environment. Such stories show up in the media from time to time, both locally and nationally. But with a story this extreme originating in our own back yard, so to speak, we decided to seek out insights from one of our own neighbors with expertise in this area: Jodi Polanski, executive director of Lost Our Home Pet Rescue in Tempe.
“Typically, it happens when people want to take care of them, and they get in over their heads” says Polanski of such cases. “At a certain point you just physically can’t keep up. From what I understand, in this case they weren’t being adopted out. [In shelter work] you have do the second part—find them homes.”
Polanski says that if people have concerns that someone in their neighborhood may have fallen into a predicament of this sort, they should contact either the local police or the Arizona Humane Society. “They go to the house for a welfare check, and can do investigations of abuse and neglect.”
By contrast, Lost Our Home Pet Rescue is a model example of an animal charity that developed in a positive way. “I was doing mortgages, and volunteering at an animal shelter,” recalls Polanski. “During the 2008 foreclosure crisis I was hearing stories of Realtors about finding pets that were abandoned.” As people lost their homes, Polanski learned of more and more animals found in houses, not only from Realtors but from neighbors, as well as from locksmiths called in to change the locks. “So I thought, I’ll just start a small shelter,” she says.
She initially envisioned it as a short-term project, but a decade and a half later it’s a 1,200-square-foot shelter capable of accommodating 80 to 100 dogs and cats, along with a large network of foster care volunteers, allowing Lost Our Home to serve as many as 250 pets at any given time (the publisher of Wrangler News has adopted two dogs from Lost Our Home, with great results). The center also provides temporary care to pets who must be separated from their owners due to homelessness, domestic violence or other difficult but not permanent situations. At this writing, the pets rescued in Chandler are not yet available for adoption (several had to be euthanized). Asked what sort of special challenges people might face in adopting or fostering pets who have come from a situation like this, Polanski notes “It’s actually a lot like an animal from a puppy mill. They’re very undersocialized and need medical and nutritional care.” One of the best things that can be done to help animals that have come from abusive or neglected backgrounds, says Polanski, is “having them get to know people. “Not just you, but friends and neighbors, and strangers.”
Lost Our Home Pet Rescue is located at 2323 S. Hardy in Tempe. For details go to lostourhome.org or call 602-445-7387.
