Humane agent finds 146 dead dogs in Mantua Township home
Nearly 150 dogs were found dead Friday at a home on state Route 82 in Mantua Township by a humane agent, the Portage Animal Protective League said.
The agency obtained a warrant to search the home after getting a tip that an animal cruelty charge was pending in another jurisdiction against the home's owner, according to a news release. The homeowner is a "founding operator" of Canine Lifeline Inc., a nonprofit animal rescue, according to the Portage Animal Protective League.
Many of the 146 dogs were found confined to their crates. Necropsies, which are animal autopsies, will be performed to determine what caused the dogs' deaths, the agency said.
The Portage Animal Protective League asks anyone with information to contact the humane agent, Holly Ebner, at humaneofficer@portageapl.org. Neither Ebner nor Chalan Lowry, executive director of the APL, could be immediately reached.
Canine Lifeline posted on its Facebook page that it was "shocked, horrified and confused to learn of the devastating revelations regarding its president and co-founder." The post said the cofounder was hospitalized June 2 after she collapsed in her home.
"After first responders reported to her home in response to this medical emergency, an investigation was triggered that has uncovered overwhelming evidence of ongoing fatal animal neglect in both her current Parma residence as well as her former home in Mantua," the group said in its Facebook post.
Volunteers were unaware of any medical conditions, and they were not aware of "the number of dogs she harbored, nor the condition of her home," the group said.
"Please know that the volunteers of Canine Lifeline are grieving this tragedy and are cooperating with the appropriate authorities," the post stated.
Surviving dogs from the Parma home were taken to an animal shelter in that community.
More: Portage APL says animals rescued from Mogadore home need a lot of care
According to Canine Lifeline's website, the nonprofit animal rescue organization was founded in 2009 to save adoptable dogs from being euthanized because of space or because they have treatable medical conditions. Most dogs are rescued from county animal shelters where they faced euthanasia.
"Our dogs come from dog pounds here in Ohio as well as from Kentucky," the website states. "Most of these pounds are in very rural areas and just do not have the means to care for all of the dogs they take in."
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: 146 dogs found dead in Mantua home-animal-cruelty-portage-protective
