40 dogs rescued from feces-laden La Mesa apartment after owner gets evicted
Forty dogs and puppies left alone over Christmas were rescued on Tuesday from a small La Mesa apartment filled with animal waste, old dog food and cockroaches.
The home is on 70th Street in La Mesa. This comes at a critical time for the San Diego Humane Society. Its shelters are already operating overcapacity.
Terrified and shaking, some animals were underweight and dehydrated. Some have feces-impacted paws and claws that have never been cared for.
Still all 40 mix breed small dogs and puppies survived their living conditions and are now in safe hands of the Humane Society. The sheer number of animals makes triage in the back lot an enormous task.
Technicians and vets vaccinated, dewormed and scanned the animals for microchips. After a thorough check-up, it was time to decompress.
The dogs were living in a 500 square foot ADU on 70th Street. The Humane Society suspects that the animals have never seen anything outside of those four walls. The tenant was evicted on Dec. 23. The Humane Society believes they hadn’t been tended to since then.”
“Could this become a criminal investigation? It definitely could,” Chief of the San Diego Humane Society Law Enforcement Jace huggins said.
Huggins says his officers found the dogs in the worst conditions they’ve ever seen, not fit for humans nor animals.
“The feces is in areas that almost reached up as high as the sitting part of the couch. The smell is very, very strong,” Huggins said.
Huggins found open bags of dog food on the floor and water dripping from the sink faucet.
“The dogs would actually climb on top of each other to get to that one small water source,” Huggins said.
Huggins estimates the dogs had been living in these conditions for a year. Neighbors rent other dwellings on the same property.
“We only saw four or five dogs until last night. I didn’t know there were that many dogs,” a neighbor said.
This man, who chose to be referred to by the name Paul, called La Mesa police Monday night for a welfare check on the home because they heard dogs barking but hadn’t seen the tenant since her eviction.
“It is very sad to see that somebody could have done that. Especially abandon them,” Paul said.
The dogs’ owner has not yet been located. For now, Humane Society officers are investigating potential animal abuse and cruelty charges.
The focus though is on the rescued pets.
“I hope they find them a better home. Somebody that will take them in and love them,” Paul said.
The Humane Society says this large intake increases the dog and puppy population in their care to nearly 800. It is well beyond ideal capacity. They are asking for the public’s help with adoptions, fostering, and donations.
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