“I love these dogs”: dog owner accused of abuse speaks out

There are conflicting stories about an alleged case of animal abuse in Jefferson City.

Five puppies are dead and two others are suffering from severe burns after a space heater accident.

On Wednesday, an unlicensed Jefferson City area dog owner was inspected because of this alleged neglect.

But he called ABC 17 shortly after our story aired, saying the dogs were never abused in any way.

Right now two of the puppies are being cared for by Callaway Hills Animal Shelter.

It was back in November when the eight-week-old puppies knocked over the space heater in their cage causing it to go up in flames.

While the fire was an accident, Animal Control is looking into animal abuse since the surviving puppies did not get the medical attention as quickly as they needed.

The owner, Galen Schanuth, says he took them to vet four days after the fire. He said he waited because the burns weren’t bad at first and it would have been expensive to get seven dogs treated.

But Carolyn Goss at the Callaway Hills Animal Shelter said she feels this was neglect.

“They are the sweetest, look at those eyes,” said Goss.

Goss, who has been taking care of animals her whole life, says this is the worst abuse she has seen.

Since the beagles were only eight weeks old at the time of the fire, scar tissue near their back legs have caused their hips and tails to deform.

“Suffered. Suffered and they are suffering right now and will continue to suffer,” said Goss.

Schanuth said it was a terrible tragedy the dogs were in the accident, and even worse when the puppies died. He said his mother took in the remaining three, two of which suffered burns. He said she tried to care for them, but it was overwhelming so she had to take them to the animal shelter.

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Goss said the breeder was never registered, and that the family was just breeding these beagles on their farm to make money.

“I don’t know if you can ever stop these people from doing this because they are not registered to begin with. But these are animals are living beings. They are not money makers. That is not why we have animals,” said Goss.

But Schanuth said he doesn’t need a license because he doesn’t sell the animals. He explained that he shows the dogs and gives the ones he doesn’t away for free.

As of Wednesday night Cole County Animal Control is investigating this possible animal abuse and neglect.

The Cole County Sheriff’s Department called and said Animal Control paid the farm a surprise visit Wednesday night and found all animals currently there are in good condition with clean surroundings.

As for the two puppies, one will go into surgery on Monday.

The other will go into surgery next Monday.

Goss does not know how much the surgeries will cost or what the extent of them will be.

Callaway Hills Animal Shelter is a not-for-profit, no-kill shelter that relies heavily on the communities donations in order to operate.

The two puppies will likely not be available for adoption for several months as they do have a long road of recovery ahead of them.