Boone Co. Animal Control continues investigation of abandoned puppies
Boone County Animal Control is still investigating after five puppies were crammed into a crate and dumped at Albert-Oakland Park on Monday, the hottest day of the year so far.
As of Thursday night, no arrests had been made.
“The puppies are very, very thin,” said Dr. Russ Ehlmann, a veterinarian at the Central Missouri Humane Society.
Ehlmann said the puppies are on the mend, but still have a long road ahead.
“They’ve been vaccinated and de-wormed,” he said. “They did have multiple parasites that we had to treat, but those are under control, they’ve been gaining weight daily, so that’s a good thing.”
But one of the five puppies was not quite so lucky.
“The puppy that passed away, Animal Control did submit it for necropsy at the University diagnostic lab, and their findings were essentially that it had starved to death,” Ehlmann said.
He said it’s likely the puppies were starved for at least two weeks before being dropped off at the park, and the puppy that died was in very bad shape.
“The puppy had what we call a body condition score of 0.5 on a scale of 1 to 5,” Ehlmann said. “To compare, this puppy we would characterize a body condition score of 1 out of 5, so the puppy was smaller and skinnier than this one.”
He said while the four remaining puppies are expected to make a full recovery, their growth may be stunted because they were starved.
While the Boone County Animal Control Division continues to investigate, Ehlmann and the Central Missouri Humane Society has a plea for the public regarding the person or persons who dumped the puppies.
“If someone does know potentially who they might be, you know, they can always anonymously contact Animal Control and they would take it from there,” Ehlmann said.
He said the puppies will be going to foster homes on Friday. But it will be at least another four to six weeks before the puppies will be up for adoption.
If you have any information, you’re asked to call the Animal Control Office at 573-449-1888.
