Jackson organization rescues 72 dogs from hoarder; local Humane Society shelter cares for 70 of the animals

A Malden, Missouri, woman cried as one by one she turned over 34 dogs to Mac�s Mission animal rescue group Tuesday, the head of the group said.

It marked the second time in three days more than 30 dogs in the woman�s possession had been turned over to the Jackson-based rescue group.

In all, 72 dogs were rescued, said Rochelle Steffen, who heads up Mac�s Mission, named after her pet pit bull.

Seventy of the dogs have been turned over to the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri, including the 34 that were admitted to the Cape Girardeau County animal shelter Tuesday afternoon.

A St. Louis rescue organization will pick up eight more dogs from the woman�s residence soon. That will leave the woman with five dogs.

Rescued dogs sit in kennels Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018, at the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

The woman had 85 dogs in her possession before 36 dogs were turned over to an acquaintance who gave them to Mac�s Mission on New Year�s Eve, Steffen said. Those 36 dogs were brought to the Humane Society shelter.

On Tuesday, Steffen and her volunteer staff traveled to the Malden home to pick up 34 dogs, most of them Yorkies and Yorkie mixes.

Steffen said the woman lived in a neighborhood of brick homes.

�It was a nice neighborhood,� she said after dropping off the dogs at the Cape Girardeau County animal shelter.

�She opened the garage door and she was sobbing,� Steffen recalled.

Steffen said the woman was a dog hoarder, who loved dogs but ended up with more animals than she could handle. The woman called each dog by name, Steffen added.

�This wasn�t a puppy mill,� said Steffen, adding law enforcement was not involved in this case.

The middle-age woman was living alone. Her husband had left her and she didn�t have enough money to feed all the animals properly, Steffen said.

�A lot of them have rotten teeth,� she added.

Humane Society shelter staff spent Tuesday afternoon processing the rescued dogs and placing them in the shelter�s kennels.

Jennifer Sokolowski, the Humane Society�s development director, said the rescued dogs �are just filthy.�

Sokolowski said the shelter will vaccinate, spay and neuter the animals, and implant microchips for future identification. Within a few days, the Humane Society plans to begin adopting out the rescued animals, she said.

The shelter already has received calls from people who want to adopt the dogs, she said. The dogs available for adoption will be showcased on the shelter�s Facebook page, Sokolowski said.

Meanwhile, the shelter is crowded with dogs.

�We have had hoarders before,� she said. �Thank God, it doesn�t happen every day.�

Sokolowski said while they have handled large numbers of rescued dogs before, the 70 dogs rescued this time are the most the shelter has handled from a single hoarding case.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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