More than 100 animals discovered in unsanitary conditions at Lucs-sur-Boulogne
On 10 September, gendarmes found 102 dogs and 11 cats crammed into a house in Vendée. Two animal welfare organisations took charge of the animals in critical condition.
102 dogs and 11 cats found crammed into a house in Vendée
On 10 September, gendarmes attended Lucs-sur-Boulogne (Vendée) to establish the death of a 78-year-old man when they discovered an alarming situation: 102 dogs and 11 cats living in unsanitary conditions. TF1 Info reported details of this intervention, which mobilised two animal welfare organisations.
Authorities first contacted the local association Cœur sur la Patte 85, reached by telephone at 9am. The gendarmerie had announced approximately forty dogs and around twenty cats requiring care. In less than thirty minutes, the association had organised itself and travelled to the scene.
Reality proved far more serious. "It is not 40 dogs but at least 70 dogs that we discover in makeshift shelters, unsuitable (…) There are around twenty cats, some are in catastrophic condition," the association wrote on Facebook. Inside the home, "everything is covered in excrement" and "the smell is unbearable."
Faced with the number of animals and the lack of available spaces, the association had to make difficult decisions. "All eyes look at us begging us to get them out of there," it said, specifying that it had chosen "to save the sickest and most fragile ones." It left with 12 dogs and puppies as well as 6 cats which, according to it, were living in rabbit hutches and "were destined to be put down."
The health condition of the animals taken in was described as critical: filth, extreme thinness, "enormous bellies probably due to parasites" and a flea infestation. Regarding the dogs, the association spoke of "an enormous psychological reconstruction", adding: "They all apologise for existing, including the puppies." Among the six cats recovered, three had eyes that were "destroyed or non-existent" and one moved about on three legs.
In the days that followed, the SPA took charge of the remaining animals: 81 dogs, 4 puppies and 5 cats. Alerted urgently by the Departmental Direction for the Protection of Populations, the organisation mobilised 14 shelters and more than 30 people. "The animals were living in extremely degraded conditions. Some dogs appear to have been locked in darkness for several months, crammed on top of each other and living amidst their excrement," the SPA wrote on Facebook. The association stressed that it had acted despite "a critical situation regarding available spaces in shelters."
Source: TF1 Info